


Unkiss Me

by thestoriesilltell



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-05-22 21:11:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6094141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestoriesilltell/pseuds/thestoriesilltell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Kelley O'Hara, the happy-go-lucky junior with a dark secret, meets Hope Solo, the private senior and recent transfer to Foudy University, they click instantly. </p><p>Three months down the line, Hope suddenly wants nothing to do with Kelley anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Tuesday November 17th, 3:35 AM**

The moonlight streaming in through the balcony window was lighting the room up with a soft, gentle glow.

Kelley turned over, leaning her entire body into the couch's backrest, snuggling into the corner.

It wasn't long before she tossed over again, sighing in frustration. Giving up any thoughts of peaceful sleep, she reached a slender arm out to grab her phone from the coffee table in front of the couch. Muscle memory moved her fingers for her, clicking and scrolling across the shattered screen until they reached the text she had read countless times already.

Kelley’s throat tightened with a fresh wave of emotions. The words on the screen in front of her glowed too harshly against the soft moonlight that was lighting the room. It hurt to look at them, but not nearly as much as it hurt to read them. No matter how ingrained they had already become in her brain, Kelley couldn’t stop herself from reading them over and over again.  
  
From: Hope | Kelley, listen, I just need some space. You are too overwhelming. I can’t handle it. I would like to not have any more contact ever again.

A single tear rolled down her cold cheek.

_Why?_


	2. The Lost Girls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of Kelley's junior year at Foudy University, and the stranger that sits next to her in her first class of the year catches her attention.

**Monday September 7th, 9:56 AM**

“This seat taken?”    

Kelley turned her head, startled out of her daydream by the intensity of the eyes gazing down at her. “N-no. You can take it.”

A smile flashed on the newcomer’s face, making her seem friendly. Kelley found herself unable to grumble about someone having chosen to sit next to her even though she had picked the back corner on purpose to sit alone. After all, how could she complain when the girl sitting down in the chair next to her had such a sweet smile?

The stranger pulled a black three-ring notebook out of her backpack, and a solitary black ballpoint pen. The plainness of the two items contrasted comically with the pile of items that were crowding the desk space infront of Kelley - a MacBook Pro with a purple cover, a purple and light blue striped planner, a purple refillable Nike water bottle, and a light blue pencil case filled with colored pens, colored highlighters, mechanical pencils, and a pack of mint gum.

Wanting to make contact with the girl now seated next to her, Kelley picked up that packet of gum and held it towards the girl, in silent offering.

“Uh...thanks.” The girl looked at Kelley gratefully, taking a piece of gum gently out of the packet and popping into her mouth quickly.

Kelley decided that the high pitched girly voice didn’t match the rest of the girl’s appearance - eyes that looked like they could pierce your soul, a sharp jawline that seemed accustomed to being clenched shut, and dressed in tight black jeans, black low-heeled ankle boots, and a loose light gray blouse. Kelley forced herself to not show the confusion she was feeling as to how such a high pitched voice could come from such an intense human. Between the dark clothes, the sharp steely gaze, and the strong jawline, the girl should have been intimidating. But there was something about her that intrigued Kelley.

“I’m Kelley.” she smiled brightly back as she introduced herself. The older girl didn’t immediately introduce herself, and so Kelley pursued the conversation in the best way she knew, “I haven’t seen you around before?”

Hope lowered her eyes slightly, and answered Kelley’s implied question quietly, “I just transfered.”

Always eager to make people feel welcome, Kelley launched into it with more enthusiasm than any regular person would have this early on a Monday morning, “Oh! Well I’m so glad you decided to come join us. I’m Kelley, as you know, and I’m from Georgia. I’m a junior. I came to Foudy University because they have great academics, and a really strong soccer program. I also like that it offers the 10-week quarter system, because it gives me a longer winter break in which to practice for the winter and spring soccer seasons, and it allows for a longer spring season. I’m a junior, and I’m majoring in environmental engineering with a minor in sociology. As for this class, I’m taking it mostly because it’s a requirement, but it does sound interesting too and I’d love to learn more about how to analyze the books I read and how to understand stories better.”

Hope blinked a couple of times, fighting back the smile that was forming on her face. “What are you, an orientation leader?”

“No...?” Kelley’s smile vanished, a small pout forming instead. She tried to figure out if Hope was making fun of her or not, but the girl’s face was unreadable. Kelley shrugged, trying to seem less enthusiastic. “I just really like this school.”

Seeing Kelley’s face fall made Hope instantly feel guilty for teasing her, though she couldn’t quite figure out why, as she had just met the girl. Hope was fluent in sarcasm, and used it more often than not, the reply she had just given wasn’t intended to hurt. Still, something tugged at her heartstrings and she found herself explaining, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been rude like that, it’s just that I’ve never seen someone so genuinely excited about school before. I’m Hope, uh, Hope Solo. I’m a senior. A communications major. And ditto on taking this class because it’s required.”

Kelley’s smile returned easily, but she was interrupted by the professor entering and starting class.

\--- 

**Monday September 7th, 11:45 AM**

“So pick a partner to work with for the remainder of this quarter and then you are free to go.” The professor closed his laptop, and started gathering his belongings to leave class.

Kelley’s breathing increased slightly as she looked around the room frantically. She hadn’t anticipated group work in this class, which was one of the reasons she had chosen this class. Since she hadn’t thought there would be group work, she hadn’t had time to go through the class attendance list online to check if she knew anyone taking the class. That was a habit of Kelley’s so she could pair up with someone right away, and avoid the uncertainty of who to pair up with. Because Kelley O’Hara did _not_ enjoy uncertainty. She scanned the room quickly, her heart rate increasing as she looked for anyone she knew.

 _Oh there’s Tobin, oh no she’s already paired herself up with Alex... ooh maybe Sam? she’s hard working... damnit Steph claimed her already... hmm... oh I think I recognize her... what was her name again...Brittney? yeah that sounds right... maybe-_  

“Partners?”

Kelley turned around, wide eyed, and stared at Hope. She wasn’t sure she had heard the older girl correctly. “You want to be partners? With me?”

Hope nodded once, waiting quietly for a reply. She didn’t care at all for this class, only taking it because it was a requirement for graduation. Nor did she care much for group work, but if she had to do it - and she did have to do it - she may as well do it with someone she didn’t completely dislike. Apparently Kelley had already fallen into that category, despite being the complete opposite of Hope and anyone Hope had been friends with until that moment.

“Oh my gosh. Yes please! Yes. Thank you!” Kelley breathed a sigh of relief and smiled brightly at Hope, making fists and waving them in the air like a smile child.

The transfer student raised an eyebrow, “You okay?”

“Yeah I’m great!” Kelley’s excitement was reflected both in her eyes, and in the bright smile she was wearing.

“Alright. See you next class!” And with that, Hope picked up her notebook and slid her pen into the ring binding of it, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and walked out of class as quickly as possible.

Kelley stared after her for a moment, wondering if she had somehow offended the transfer student. She shook her head lightly, reminding herself that this was Hope’s first day at a new school and Hope was probably just nervous.

_Still. She asked me to be her partner._

It was with a smile that Kelley packed up all of her many belongings, and headed home to make lunch.

\---

**Monday September 7th 2:30 PM**

Kelley sat beside Heather on the comfy black couch of their shared apartment, Parks & Rec playing on the TV that was mounted on the wall opposite them. Neither of the two were paying much attention to the show, instead they focused on the conversation between them and the plates that were rested on the coffee table in front of them - sweet potato, ground turkey, and kale salad; the perfect quick-cook meal for a late lunch that they could eat before heading to practice.

The two had met on their school’s soccer team when Kelley had joined in her freshman year, and Heather was in her sophomore year. Heather had introduced herself as Heather Ann O’Reilly, to which Kelley had given her the nickname HAO, quickly earning her own nickname back - KO. They had become friends right away, both extroverts that loved other people’s company and Kelley’s goofy happy-go-lucky nature balancing out Heather’s serious work-driven nature perfectly. By the time Kelley’s freshman year had been coming to an end and she found herself having to look for off-campus housing for her sophomore year, Heather had become tired of living in a single bedroom apartment alone. The two decided to share a two bedroom apartment, that had quickly been dubbed the Irish Soul Sister Cave, and to this day each of the two girls swore that was the best decision they had made in college.

Over the past year of living together, as they settled into their domestic habits, they had furnished the apartment to suit both of their styles - functional and colorful. The black couch was covered with brightly colored pillows and throws, amongst which the girls were nested as they ate and Kelley chattered away about the girl who had sat next to her in class earlier that morning.

“You have a crush on her, don’t you?” Heather raised an eyebrow, giving Kelley a knowing look. Heather had been there throughout a rough relationship that almost destoryed Kelley, and Heather had been there when one night in the middle of summer after Kelley’s first year of college Kelley had called her with a panicked realization. It had taken the better part of the night for Heather to calm Kelley down and convince her that liking girls was okay. Ever since that day, Kelley had become more and more comfortable with being herself and with how she felt about girls. Today, Kelley was outright gushing about her new classmate, and Heather could not be prouder of her.

“I just-... I mean-... She-...” Kelley groaned as she found herself unable to deny Heather’s question. Kelley picked at a piece of lint on the pillow beside her, trying to come up with the right words. This was new to her, she had never struggled for words when it came to talking to Heather. “She’s really intense.”

Heather raised an eyebrow, “Intense?” Intense was not a descriptor that Kelley had ever used to describe a person, in Heather’s memory. Because Kelley didn’t find people intense. Even when it happened to be an what Heather considered an awful human being, Kelley wouldn't describe them as such. She would always look for the positives in people. She would find them cute, or endearing, or lovable, or a myriad of other similar terms that showed off Kelley's own sweet nature, but Kelley O'Hara did not find people intense.

Kelley ducked her head, ashamed of how sensitive she knew she was about to sound. “Like...straight-forward. Blunt. Direct. Those kinds of things.”

“Oh.” Heather’s face was unreadable for a moment, before she forced what almost looked like a genuine smile to appear. Wanting to keep Kelley’s bright spirit happy, Heather looked to herself for how to approach the situation, “Well so am I. And we get along just fine, don’t we?”

At those words, Kelley tilted her head pensively. She could see the hopefulness in Heather’s eyes and it was that that made her agree, “Yeah! You’re right HAO. Thank you.” Kelley’s smile widened, matching Heather’s own. The younger girl stood up and stretched out a hand towards Heather, “Now let’s get to practice before Coach Hamm makes us run extra laps.”

Heather let herself be pulled up off the couch, taking Kelley’s plate and her own to the sink. She looked over her shoulder as she washed the dishes quickly, laughing casually, “It’s not like either of us would have a problem with running extra laps KO.”

“True. But I don’t wanna run extra laps.” The younger girl stuck her tongue out cheekily as she grabbed her training bag and HAO’s, handing the latter of the two to Heather as they headed out of their apartment and towards the campus athletic center.

Kelley bit back the _it’s a different kind of intense_ that she had wanted to say all the way to the locker rooms, only forgetting about it when she set foot on the pitch for the first real team practice of the season.

\---

**Monday September 7th, 5:37 PM**

With a few final words, Coach Hamm released the team back to the locker rooms.

Kelley found the iHome speakers, plugged her phone in and let her Pump It Up playlist start playing. She grabbed HAO and they started dancing crazily to the music as they waited for their turns in the shower.

“How are you two not exhausted?” A raspy voice emerged from inside one of the lockers. It belonged to Alex Morgan, a sophomore and a forward on the team, who was currently sitting inside her locker, head tipped back against the wall, a look of pure exhaustion on her face.

Tobin Heath, a junior midfielder and Alex’s girlfriend, snorted, “It’s the Irish blood in them, duh.”

Everyone in the locker room burst into laughter, knowing that both KO and HAO could out-dance [and out-drink] just about anyone, as had been proven many a time before.

Kelley tipped her head back and laughed, care-free as always after working all her inner frustrations out on the pitch. She glanced at Heather quickly, a question in her eyes, and upon receiving the nod of agreement from the older girl, Kelley stopped dancing to turn towards the others, “Welcome back dinner at the Irish Cave! Who’s coming?”

Several hands were raised, and Kelley - ever the extrovert - squealed in excitement.

**Monday, September 7th, 10:45 PM**

With the smell of burgers lingered in the air, Heather picked up the last few paper plates and beer cans to put into their recycling bin, surveying the apartment to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. Though most of the team had left, the Lost Girls remained.

They had been given that name by Coach Hamm when they had almost missed the team bus back to campus the first time they had played an away game the year earlier. The memory still made them laugh every time it was brought up.

_The had headed down to Florida for a pre-season tournament, where the only thing to be won or lost was pride. With the tournament over, and the pride of coming in first under their belts, Coach Hamm had given them Sunday afternoon off and told them to meet at the team bus by 5pm._

_The loudest cheers on the bus were from then-sophomores Tobin, Kelley, and Ashlyn Harris - the goalkeeper for the team - and then-juniors Alexandra Krieger - a defender - and Heather._

_Heather and Ali, as she was known, had become best friends during their freshman year orientation. The five had quickly become friends, and started hanging out as a group, when Tobin, Kelley, and Ashlyn joined the team in their freshman year. Ashlyn and Alexandra had started dating a few months into that year, but it took 6 months for Ashlyn to realize that she was the only one who called Ali Alex, leading to a lot of laughter from the rest of the girls and a sheepishly embarrassed blush from Ashlyn._  

_Their friendship had cemented, and so when Coach Hamm let them loose for the afternoon, they naturally decided to hang out together, The three younger girls decided they wanted to go surfing, and it didn’t take long for them to convince the two older ones to join them. As they left to head towards the beach, Tobin’s face suddenly became bright red, as she turned around to face all of them and stuttered a question that left them shocked, “Is it okay if I invite Alex too?”_

_Four sets of cheers, one very loud “Finally!” exclamation from Kelley, and lots of encouragement later, Tobin disappeared and reappeared with Alex, both wearing face-eating grins._

_After finding the beach and renting out surf-boards from the surf shack, the rest of their afternoon had been spent surfing, or in Ali, Heather, and Alex’s case sun-tanning on the beach whilst laughing at the antics of the surfers. Eventually tired from a weekend of exercise the three made their way onto the beach towels, and sat down contentedly. They stayed that way, chattering happily._

_It wasn’t until 5:15 that Heather lept up, screeching about the bus and Coach Hamm, that they realized how much time had passed. Six pairs of legs scrambled up, three heading towards the shack to return the surf boards, and then all sprinting towards the bus, hoping they wouldn’t be left behind._  

_Luckily for them, Coach Hamm had apparently been in a good mood that day, because when they reached the bus, their coach was leaning against it, sunglasses propped up on the top of her head, laughing gently, “Alright, now that the Lost Girls are here, we can head back.”_

_The nickname stuck, as did the friendships that had grown stronger that day. Alex was happily welcomed into their little group, and soon after so was her and Tobin’s relationship._

Heather sighed contentedly at the memory of that day, knowing that as a senior this year, the time they had left all together was growing shorter.

The girls had pushed the balcony screen door open as far as it could go, and pushed the living room’s black couch and black lounge chair right in front of the balcony, so they could all sit together facing the sunset.

Tobin was lying out on the balcony itself, her bare feet dangled off the edge of it, her legs having been snaked through the safety bars. Alex was sitting delicately on the leather bean bag beside Tobin, their hands intertwined. Ali had taken a seat on the far end of the couch, with Ashlyn sitting in between her legs. Kelley was in the lounge chair, sideways, legs over one of the arms of the chair, and head tipped backwards with her face turned towards the sunlight.

Heather surveyed the scene happily, revelling in the comfortable silence of friendship, before wrecking that silence by jumping onto Kelley. The older girl laughed at the squeal that Kelley emitted.

“HAO! You’re crushing me.” Kelley laughed as she tried to push her friend off of her, but she was indeed trapped underneath Heather.

“Well everyone else was looking so couple-y that I figured we should join in!”

Ali joined in on the fun, smiling gleefully at the thought in her mind. “Irish Soul Sister Wedding! Shotgun I get to be the bridesmaid!”

Kelley’s laugh was joined by five others, and all six girls clutched their stomachs soon after, finding themselves unable to stop laughing.

Tobin spoke up, fighting to get the words out through her giggles, “Ali I already have dibs on being her bridesmaid, but you can be HAOs.”

Alex joined in on the fun by claiming flower girl, and Ashlyn decided she would be the best man.

Heather regained composure first, only to crack up as she realized a flaw in the wedding they had started planning, “Shotgun not telling Dave that I’m ditching him for Kelley!” and sending the girls into fits of laughter again.

When the laughter had finally died down, and the only sound was deep breaths being taken, Tobin turned to look at her best friend seriously, “All jokes aside, when you do eventually decide you like someone enough to actually go out with them, she first needs to pass the Tobin Test.”

“That might not be too far away! She has a crush already.” Heather screeched as she earned a mock-slap from Kelley, the younger girl glaring at her for spilling the secret.

But the damage was already done, and four sets of eyes were looking at Kelley questioningly.

“It’s not a crush. It’s not. She’s just... She’s cool, okay?” Kelley ducked her eyes, trying to ignore the girls staring at her, and Heather shaking her head slightly from beside her.

Tobin let go of Alex’s hand and gently picked up Kelley’s. “If you say it’s not a crush then it’s not a crush. Just tell us about the girl.”  
  
Kelley smiled gratefully at her best friend, and launched into an explanation, “Okay fine. Her name is Hope.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some questions, if you feel like it! [answer any or all if you want] :
> 
> 1\. favorite line?  
> 2\. what do you think of the characters so far?  
> 3\. any predictions?


	3. The Unspoken Rule

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's movie night at Talex's cute little college-town house and there's a reason the rest of the Lost Girls are so protective of KO.

**Wednesday, September 9th, 9:40AM**

Kelley got to class early, and tried to convince herself that it was only because she liked being punctual, and that it had nothing at all to do with the fact that she would be seeing Hope soon. 

But when Kelley’s heart warmed the moment the older girl walked into class, Kelley knew she had no chance of denying her crush any longer. 

Hope smiled as soon as she saw Kelley, pulling her headphones off her head, and sliding into her seat. 

“Hi!” Kelley waved slightly, even though Hope was sitting right next to her. The older girl giggled slightly in response, the sound of her high-pitched laugh causing buterflies to take flight in Kelley’s stomach. 

**Wednesday, September 9th, 11:59 AM**

As she packed her belongings at the end of class, a frown formed on the younger girl’s face. Though Kelley loved the way Foudy University’s schedules were set - each class met for two hours twice a week, either Monday & Wednesday or Tuesday & Thursday, it meant that she would have to go the next four consecutive days without seeing Hope, and Kelley was not a big fan of that. 

Hope’s own facial expression matched that of Kelley. Though she had only seen the younger girl twice, Hope had already developed a soft spot for the tiny girl with the huge personality. Hope looked over at Kelley, and saw that she too was looking unhappy. Hope did the only thing she could think of to try and put a smile back on the freckled face again. 

“Kelley give me your phone.”

The younger girl looked up in surprise, a sudden look of fear etched onto her face. Kelley gulped visibly, her eyes widening even more, and her breathing increasing drastically in speed. 

Confusion hit Hope hard, not understanding Kelley’s reaction. “I want I can give you my number so we can text each other this weekend, Kelley, that’s all.”

Kelley’s breathing slowed slightly, and she forced a smile onto her face. “Oh. Right. Yeah of course.” She grabbed her phone from her bag and handed it to Hope gently, hand still trembling noticably. 

The older girl smiled as she entered her number, “You have iMessage right?”

“Huh?” Kelley looked up at Hope, with a deer-in-headlights look, “Oh. Yeah. Yeah.”

Hope handed Kelley her phone, encouraging her to enter her number into it. The older girl smiled widely when she got her phone back and noticed that Kelley had saved her name as Kelley O’Hara with two emojis - a green leaf and a squirrel. “Leaf squirrel?” 

“Hmm?” Furrowing her eyebrows together Kelley looked up at Hope again, an unasked question written on her face.

Turning her phone towards the younger girl, Hope watched as Kelley’s expression turned to one of recognition, almost as if she had added the emojis subconsciously out of habit. 

“Oh. Not a leaf. A shamrock. I’m Irish. Well, my family is Irish, I'm just American. And my friends call me squirrel. I’m sorry... I can delete them if you want. I’m sorry.” Kelley spoke quickly, nervously, biting her lip after every few words.

Hope smiled gently, trying to instill some more confidence in the girl in front of her. “No, I want to keep them. They’re perfect for you. I wanted to make sure I understood their meaning.”

Kelley nodded quickly, swung her bag onto her shoulder, and started walking home. Luckily, Hope’s long legs allowed her to catch up quickly. They walked together in silence for a while until Kelley spoke up, “I’m sorry for freaking out before. I just... It’s that...” The younger girl stopped walking, biting into her bottom lip, not able to find the right words. 

“It’s okay”, Hope smiled softly, trying to make Kelley feel at ease again, “My question took you by surprise, and I worded it very bluntly. You have nothing to apologize, no harm done. As long as you’re okay?”

Kelley looked into Hope’s eyes, the usually steely gaze was full of concern now. The younger girl relaxed, finally releasing all of the tension she had been holding in her body. “Yeah. I’m good. Thanks for understanding.”

The two smiled at each other and carried on walking the way they had been going. They only got a few steps until Kelley started talking again, “Hey which way are you going?”

“Home.” Hope nodded, taking a few steps to realize that her answer was probably not sufficient for Kelley, so raising an arm to point to a spot ahead of them she elaborated, “It’s an apartment. In that gray and white building.”

Kelley’s smile almost blinded the older girl. “That’s awesome! I live in an apartment too! With Heather, she’s great you should meet her. It’s the red brick one with the black roof, five buildings down from yours. Your building is really cool though. Heather’s best friend Ali lives there with her roommate Ashlyn, they’re dating actually.” Kelley’s smile only grew wider when Hope nodded, not showing any signs of disapproval of the two girls’ relationship. 

The younger girl continued on, pointing out yet another building. “My best friend Tobin lives in that tiny house over across the street from my building, with her girlfriend Alex, and they usually have at least one person sleeping over on their couches or floors because Tobin likes the community-feel. She’s awesome that way. She had that house last year too, and Alex slept over all the time even though she was supposed to be in her freshman dorm. Now she lives there. I sleep over whenever Dave, that’s Heather’s boyfriend by the way, comes over to sleep at our apartment. And our friends Steph and Sam, they live in that building.”

Hope smiled as she let Kelley chatter along the whole way home. When they finally reached Hope’s apartment, the younger girl unquestioningly pulled Hope in for a hug. Surprisingly, Hope found herself hugging Kelley’s small frame back, and felt her heart warm at the interaction. 

Kelley skipped the rest of the way home, humming to herself. 

**Friday, September 11th, 8:17 PM**

“Kelley? Kell? Kellssssss!”

Kelley was startled out of her daydream when Tobin poked her in the ribs. Hard. 

“OUCH. What was that for?” The girl turned slightly, to find four inquisitive faces, and one girl laughing hysterically. “Tobs that wasn’t funny.”

Tobin regained her composure quickly, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, that was just too easy. I’m usually the one off in her own little world, not you. It’s nice to be on this side of it for once.”

Kelley tilted her head to the side in question, the last she remembered was they were debating whether to watch Inside Out or She’s The Man. 

The girls had gathered together in Tobin and Alex’s house for their weekly ‘de-stress from the week’ take out and movie night. The pizza had been ordered, and now the first movie to watch was being debated. Kelley, who had been banned from participating in  the movie choice debate within thirty minutes of their first ever movie night, since her indecisiveness only hindered the process, sat back and watched the debate. Tobin and Ashlyn wanted to watch Inside Out. Ali and Alex wanted to watch She’s The Man. Heather was left to break the tie, with both sides trying to sway her in their favor, and while that lively discussion took place, Kelley had started wondering which of the two movies Hope would prefer. 

“KELLEY! Come back to planet Earth please.”

The young girl shook her head as though to clear it, a sappy smile still on her face as she faced her friends’ curious faces a second time. 

“You’re thinking about her again, aren’t you?” Heather smiled knowingly, before turning to the group at large and spilling, “She’s been in a half-daydream state pretty much all week since her class with Hope. The only way she’ll focus is if she’s at practice or doing homework.”

Kelley grabbed the pillow closest to her, to cover her face with, and groaned loudly as the teasing continued. It was only when Heather had finally settled on a movie - Inside Out, which caused Tobin and Ashlyn to cheer loudly as their girlfriends glared playfully at them - and started playing it, that Kelley finally took the pillow away from her face, and settled in to watch the movie. 

Kelley looked at the small living room, scoping out a good spot to sit in. Ash and Ali had effectively taken up one of the two couches, Lying side by side along it, with Ash’s head poking out over Ali’s. Heather had sprawled out on a pile of bean bags just in front of them. Alex and Tobin were on one end each of the remaining couch, with their legs in a messy pile in between them. Kelley smiled at the sight of her friends, and dropped down right onto their legs, shuffling around until both girls pulled their legs out from underneath her, laughing at her antics, and piled them right on top of her. Somehow, for the three of them, it was comfortable. 

The opening credits ended, and the girls all reached for slices of pizza as the movie started. As usual, within three minutes of the movie starting they were trying to pair up which character fit best for each girl, and which girl would have said which quote in real life. Through the laughter and debate, Kelley found herself growing uncomfortable, and becoming more and more silent with each minute that passed. 

As the scenes kept rolling, the girls rearranged themselves slightly. Ali and Ash switched so that Ali was the big spoon, and Heather punched some of the bean bags into a more comfortable position. Alex withdrew her legs from Kelley’s lap, settling on crossing them delicately in front of herself on the couch instead. Kelley then wriggled out from underneath Tobin’s legs, and sat herself in front of Tobin, who mindlessly let an arm drop and started playing with Kelley’s hair.

The music built up as the movie reached its saddest point. Kelley tried to keep her tears silent, but when she pulled her shoulders up and bent her head forwards as far as possible.

Tobin noticed. Kelley was known to cry at sad movies, but this wasn’t the dramatic sobbing that would often be heard when a sad scene occurred, this was the type of hidden crying that Kelley only resorted to when she was in pain and wanted to hide it from the world. Tobin leaned forwards, until her head was resting on Kelley’s shoulder. “Hey Kells, come with me a sec?”

Kelley pushed a hand up towards Tobin, nodding almost imperceptibly. Tobin jumped off the couch, grabbed her best friend’s hand, and pulled her up. With a quick “just grabbing more drinks, we’ll be back” to the group, Tobin pulled Kelley through the kitchen and into her bedroom. She sat down on the bed, and pulled Kelley onto her lap, an all too familiar scenario for both of them. “What’s wrong?”

“Sadness.”

“Kells? It’s just a movie? You know that.”

“No, Tobs. I’m Sadness.” Kelley’s voice was barely a whisper, thick with tears. 

Tobin stared dumbfoundedly at her best friend. “Kelley. You’re Joy. There is no one more Joy than you.” She continued with the movie-based analogy the Irish girl had started. “You have some Sadness in you, we all do. But your main emotion is Joy. You’re always happy.”

“I used to be. Not anymore. Not like you. Sadness changed it all. He changed it all.” 

As realization dawned on her, Tobin hugged Kelley tightly. “Oh Kells, it’s okay. You’re here. You’re safe now. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

Kelley’s body shook with sobs, and she clung onto Tobin. 

“Kells, it’s going to be okay. I promise. He may have made some of your memories sad, but he hasn’t changed you. You’re still Joy. I know it.” Tobin stroked Kelley’s hair gently, letting the girl calm down before she spoke again, “What brought all this on?”

“Hope.”

Tobin took in a sharp breath, her face setting, ready to run out the door and go after the girl. Crush or not, no one was allowed to hurt Kelley. Not again. 

Kelley shook her head when she saw Tobin’s reaction. “Not like that Tobs. She’s so kind to me.” Once Tobin had relaxed slightly and had a smile on her face again, Kelley allowed herself to continue, “But... I really like her. What if it ends up like before?” Kelley broke down in sobs again, her whole body shaking with hurt. 

“It won’t.” Tobin’s response was instant. “I’ll make sure of it.” Tobin hugged her best friend as tight as possible, rubbing her back gently until Kelley had calmed down. 

When they looked at each other again, Tobin smiled softly. “Do you want to pause this conversation and go back to the movie or do you want to talk more about it now?” 

“Movie. Please.” Though the tears had stopped, Kelley’s voice was still thick and quiet. 

Nodding, Tobin grabbed her hand gently, and led her back to the kitchen to pick up some drinks. Though they both knew they would have to talk about this properly later on, the two girls knew that now wasn’t the right time.

Kelley wiped furiously at her eyes with her hoodie’s sleeve, until Tobin offered her a tissue instead. She accepted it graciously, and tried to thank her friend, but more tears formed and stopped her words from forming.

Tobin hugged her best friend tightly again. “It’s going to be okay. Trust me. Now why don’t you take a minute while I head in there with the drinks and distract them all?” Tobin waited until Kelley had nodded her agreement before heading back into the living room.

She entered, drinks in hand, to four very concerned faces. It wasn’t unexpected. There had been an unwritten rule between the four of them, ever since the spring of their freshman year, that Kelley had to be protected at all costs. Alex had quickly been filled in on that rule by Tobin, in hushed whispers late one night while they watched the sun set after Alex had asked a question that Tobin knew would require a serious answer. 

Tobin raised a quick thumbs up and a smile, trying to reassure them that things would be okay. When mouths were opened to ask questions, Tobin simply shook her head lightly, letting them know that now was not the time. She handed out the drinks, and took her familiar spot on the couch again. 

The girls, trusting Tobin’s judgement of the situation, turned their heads back to the screen, and tried to not look at Kelley with concern when she entered. They tried, but they could all make out the tear stains on her cheeks, despite Kelley’s best efforts at hiding them. 

Alex glanced at Ali and Ash quickly, one eyebrow raised, asking a silent question. When they both nodded ever-so-slightly, Alex jumped up, “Ash switch with me! I wanna snuggle with Ali, it’s my turn now.” 

The young couple readjusted their position quickly, Ashlyn getting up to head to the other couch, and Ali opening her arms out wide for Alex to snuggle into, and nudging Heather with her foot until the girl joined them on the couch as well.

Tobin smiled appreciatively at her friends, knowing exactly what had just happened, as she pulled Kelley gently onto the couch between her and Ashlyn. The two juniors hugged their friend closely between them, reminiscent of several nights back in their freshman year. 

It didn’t take long for Kelley to fall asleep, feeling safe in the arms of her friends. 

**Friday, September 11th, 11:40 PM**

The five other girls looked over a sleeping Kelley at the end of the movie, trying to decide how best to deal with it. None of them wanted to wake her up, knowing it would only result in more tears. Eventually, they resorted to what they had done many-a-time in her freshman year. Heather and Ashlyn picked her up carefully, and put her on Ali’s back in piggy-back style. Ali grabbed Kelley’s knees, to keep hold of her, as she headed out the door with Ashlyn walking closely behind her to make sure Kelley wouldn’t fall. Heather grabbed all of their belongings, thanked Tobin and Alex, and headed out the door with Ashlyn and Ali towards her apartment. 

Once they had placed Kelley in her own bed, instead of into Heather’s bed like they used to do in Kelley’s freshman year, the young couple headed outside, leaving Kelley with the trusth-worthy Heather. 

“Do you think she’ll be okay?” Tears brimmed in Ashlyn’s eyes, the young girl worried about the internal pain her friend was still in. “I thought this was all over.”

Ali hugged Ashlyn to her side, as the two made their way along the street to their apartment building. She stayed silent for a minute, thinking her answer through. “It’s never really  _ over _ . But she’s stronger and so much better than she used to be. Remember how bad it was back then? Tonight was nothing compared to that. Bad days like today will happen for the rest of her life, unfortunately. But it’s been so long since she’s had a bad day, and she has so many more good days than bad days now. Tomorrow will be a good day. Focus on that. And hey, maybe her crush on Hope will be good for her.”

“I hope so.” Ashlyn smiled, giving her girlfriend a quick kiss on the cheek as they got into their apartment. 

**Saturday, September 12th, 12:09 AM**

Back over at Tobin and Alex’s house, the older of the two sat cross legged on the couch, picking at the fabric of a cushion she had pulled onto her lap. She hadn’t moved since their friends had left the apartment, while Alex had tidied up and gotten ready for bed. 

“Toby?” Alex poked her head around the door, calling out into the living room. 

Tobin smiled absentmindedly at the nickname only her girlfriend could get away with calling her. Still, she didn’t get up or even respond to Alex’s voice, her thoughts still too preoccupied with Kelley’s small breakdown earlier that night. 

Alex realized that the older girl wouldn’t be getting up, so she picked up her phone, and dialled Heather’s number. When the older girl picked up, Alex explained the situation quickly as she walked over to where Tobin was still sitting. 

Tobin felt a phone touch her arm, and turned around in confusion. When Alex nodded in encouragement, she grabbed the phone from her girlfriend, and put it to her ear, letting Heather’s gently voice fill her ear. 

“Tobin. She’s okay. She’s had so many happy days in a row.. We all knew a sad day was coming. And with the stress of the first week back at school and first week of full team practices, it makes sense that it happened today. She’ll be smiling again tomorrow.”

Realizing the truth in her words, Tobin thanked Heather and spoke with her for a few more minutes before hanging up. Hugging Alex in gratefulness, Tobin let herself be led back to her bedroom, already looking forward to sleeping. 

**Saturday, September 12th, 12:19 AM**

Heather hung up from Alex’s phone call, thankful that her friend group took such good care of each other. She glanced into Kelley’s bedroom through the open door, making sure the younger girl was still sleeping peacefully, then headed to her own room to get her soccer bag ready for practice tomorrow morning. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some questions for you -  
> 1\. favorite spoken line?  
> 2\. favorite [non-spoken] line?  
> 3\. favorite character in this chapter?  
> 4\. any predictions/questions/criticisms/etc?


	4. The Lunch Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope starts getting close to Kelley and KO gets upset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think in the comments!

**Saturday, September 12th 9:38 AM**  

Kelley waited until most of the team had filed out of the locker room and onto the pitch, having already caught on to the fact that the rest of the Surf Clan was hovering. She nodded once as she faced them, “Thanks for last night guys. And I’m really sorry you had to deal with that.”

The rest of the girls smiled, but all shook their heads at the apology, a habit of Kelley’s that they knew far too well.

It was Ali that spoke first, “You don’t need to apologize to us. We look out for each other. That’s what friends are for. Are you feeling better?”

Kelley nodded again, and headed out to the pitch before they could ask any more questions.

Four of the five girls remaining in the locker room turned towards Tobin hesitantly while the girl pushed her socks down as low as humanly possible while still wearing shinguards. None of them wanted to ask the question that was on their minds. Though they had seen Kelley upset many times before, there was usually something that caused her to start crying - Kelley was not the kind of person to get upset for no reason. As far as the four girls knew, nothing upsetting had happened last night.

Tobin drew in a deep breath, finding the right words, “The movie set her off. The scene where Sadness wa touching all of the happy memories and turning them sad?” The midfielder spoke quietly and steadily, hoping the rest of the girls would catch on quickly, not wanting to go into more detail while they stood in the locker room.

To their credit, her friends caught on immediately. Ashlyn gasped, raising a hand to her mouth, tears filling her eyes again. Ali and Heather both sighed quietly, and Alex’s face twisted into a strange expression as she tied a pink pre-wrap headband around her head.

Glancing at the clock, Heather started pulling her hair into a ponytail, “She may need a little extra tender loving care this weekend. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

“She’ll be okay. I think that scene just hit too close to home.” Tobin nodded, “She really likes Hope, by the way guys. Like, really likes her.”

Ali pulled her socks over her knees, and grabbed a hair band out of her backpack, and spoke softly, “Maybe a new relationship will be good for her.”

No one spoke for a while, not really knowing what to say, but not wanting to leave the conversation at that. As far as the five of them knew, Kelley hadn’t expressed interest in dating anyone since her freshman year. If she found someone she liked who liked her back, they would be happy for her. But each girl standing in the locker room knew that all five of them were worried about their dorky little friend.

When the awkward silence was finally broken, by Alex tripping over her own feet as she went to fill her water bottle up, the girls all laughed nervously.

Ashlyn finally cracked, speaking up as they all got up to leave, “We’ll just make sure to look out for her, right?”

They all nodded in response, and let the locker room door slam behind them on their way to the pitch.

**Saturday, September 12th, 6:14 PM**

Kelley groaned as she looked over her notes. The assignment wasn’t necessarily a complicated one, but it was taking her far longer than she wanted to. For as much as she loved reading, and for as much as this book was interesting, analyzing the linguistic devices used in the novel was not how she wanted to spend her Saturday afternoon, nor did she want to fill out a worksheet about them.

Leaning back into their couch, she raised her head to look at the view over the balcony. Raising her arms above her head to stretch, her eyes fell on her phone, at the far end of the couch from where she was sitting. Kelley picked it up and quickly sent off a text.

To: Hope | Hi Hope! (: How are you?

Before she could even put the phone back down on the couch beside her, it vibrated, and a reply appeared on her screen.

From: Hope | Good, you?

Kelley moved her notebook and book off of her lap, deciding it was time for a study break, and started typing out a reply to Hope’s question.

To: Hope | Prettyyy good, struggling with the English Lit homework though hahah  
From: Hope | You started that already?

Head tilted slightly, Kelley bit her lip. The worksheet assignment was due Monday, they had a worksheet due every single class. It was excessive for sure, but Kelley figured the professor had a reason for assigning them. _Saturday isn’t too early to be doing homework for Monday, is it_?

To: Hope | Hahah yeah... Just want to get it done (:

Holding her phone tightly, Kelley bit her lip harder as the three dots that signaled Hope was replying appeared.

From: Hope | Ugh I hate this class. So useless.

Kelley’s eyes widened slightly. It was true that the amount of work assigned for the class was a little overboard, and that neither of them needed this class for their major or for what they wanted to do later in life, but Kelley didn’t think it was _completely_ useless. Kelley stared at her screen nervously, unsure of what to reply, but before she could decide on a sentence her phone vibrated again.

From: Hope | At least I get to hang out with you.

A giant grin took over Kelley’s face, and a slight blush formed on her cheeks.

To: Kelley | Maybe we should hang out outside of class someday then :P

Kelley let her phone fall onto her leg and hid her face in her hands as soon as she had sent that text, the blush on her cheeks already deepening. When the phone vibrated against her leg, Kelley hesitated in picking it up, not wanting to feel the sting of rejection she was sure was coming her way.

From: Hope | What are you doing tomorrow?

Willing herself to stay calm, Kelley typed out a quick reply, and crossed her fingers that she hadn’t misunderstood Hope’s question.

To: Hope | Soccer practice in the morning (: (: But after that not much. Why?

From: Hope | Let’s get lunch tomorrow.

Kelley let out a loud squeal, accidentally causing Heather to come running at full speed to the balcony. The older girl almost tripped over the couch, having forgotten that they hadn’t yet moved it back to it’s actual place in the living room.

“What happened? What’s wrong?”

Unable to form coherent sentences due to sheer excitement, Kelley shoved her phone into Heather’s face and let her roommate figure it out for herself.

A smile appeared on Heather’s face as she read the conversation on the younger girl’s phone, and she instantly pulled her roommate into a hug. The hug didn’t last too long as Kelley’s vibrant energy had the young girl bouncing out of Heather’s arms quickly. Heather grabbed hold of Kelley’s arm to steady her, and made sure to hide the apprehension she was feeling from her tone as she spoke, “I’m really happy for you. Have you picked out a restaurant yet?”

Kelley’s bouncing stopped, her head tilted to the side again. “Nope.” The young girl sat down on the couch again, crossing her legs underneath her, and began typing furiously, listing out all of the good restaurants she could think of within walking distance of her’s and Hope’s apartments, to let the older girl choose where to go.

Heather shook her head gently and left the younger girl alone to her antics, heading back to her room to text the rest of the group about the new revelation in Kelley’s possible relationship.

**Sunday, September 13th, 12:20PM**

_She’s not here yet. She’s not going to come. Why would someone like her want to have lunch with someone like me? I should’ve known._

_Kelley calm down. You’re 10 minutes early, she’ll be here at 12:30._

_What if she isn’t?_

_Then you can call Tobin and have lunch with her instead._

Kelley looked at the entrance of the Panera Bread restaurant she was standing in, for what was possibly the 100th time since she had gotten there twenty minutes early.

**Sunday, September 13th, 12:29PM**

_She’s not coming. I should just leave._

_But what if she gets here and I’ve left and she thinks I stood her up?_

_She’s not coming. I should just leave._

_Maybe she’s just late?_

_She’s not coming. I shou-_

Kelley’s internal battle was interrupted by the restaurant door being pushed open in the corner of her peripheral vision. The young girl whirled her head around as fast as possible.

_She’s here._

Kelley stood up from the waiting-to-be-seated bench, smoothed out her yellow sundress, which she had paired with white sandals, and simple silver jewelry, and shifted nervously as she took in Hope. The older girl was dressed in tight jeans, a loose black top, and black flip flops.

They hugged nervously and headed up to the line at the counter to order. Kelley looked up at the menu boards, silently thanking Hope for having chosen a place she had already been too many times over the past years, during which she had already picked out some of her favorites on the menu. It made her less indecisive about what she would want to eat. Still, she insisted on reading all of the menu boards, just to make sure that nothing new had been added.

While Kelley looked at the menu, Hope looked at Kelley. The younger girl’s outfit contrasted with Hope’s own outfit greatly, but it suited Kelley’s personality perfectly. Colorful and bright, but not overbearing. Hope shook her head lightly, still in some disbelief that she was so interested in someone so different to her.

The people in front of them paid for their food and moved to a table, leaving the two young girls to be the only ones in front of the counter. While Kelley stayed still, biting her lip deep in thought, Hope stepped up to order. “I’d like a steak and white cheddar panini please, with a fountain drink.” She handed over her debit card to pay and with a glance back at Kelley added, “And I’m paying for her too.”

The younger girl finally made her mind up, and stepped up to the counter beside Hope. “Hi! May I please have a Mediterranean quinoa salad and ginger hibiscus iced tea?” When the cashier nodded she reached into her bag and handed over her credit card.

The cashier smiled gently at her, “Actually ma’am, that’s already taken care of.”

Kelley stared in confusion. “Huh?”

Hope giggled from her spot beside Kelley, causing the younger girl to turn around and look at her.

“You paid for me?”

“Yes.”

“But-” Kelley’s face fell. She did not like other people doing things for her, and she really did not like other people paying for her. It made her feel uncomfortable.

Hope couldn’t bear the frown appearing on the freckled face, every time it did it tugged at hear heart. “Hey. Don’t make that face. I asked you to lunch, so lunch is on me. You can ask me to lunch some other time if you want.”

Kelley’s face lit up again, causing both Hope and the cashier to laugh. The two girls thanked the cashier again, and headed into the main restaurant area to pick a table while they waited for their food to be cooked.

They chose a window table, so they were able to gaze out at the green grassy area that surrounded that side of the restaurant, and sat facing each other.

“So.”

“So...”

Hope sighed, knowing small talk was not her forté. She had hoped Kelley would take care of that part. “So.”

“So... why did you ask me to lunch?”

“Hmm.” Hope closed her eyes and considered her words carefully. “I like lunch. I don’t you know well yet. You’re friendly. I need friends here.”

Kelley nodded, listening carefully to Hope’s words and to the tone she was speaking in. “Well, we’re friends now!” When she saw Hope’s eyes widen slightly, Kelley backtracked, “If you want to be, I mean. We don’t have to. I just-”

“Kelley. It’s okay. We’re friends.”

Smiling, Kelley calmed herself down quickly, “Yay! And you should meet my friends, they’d like you. Have you made any other friends?” Before she offended the girl in front of her, Kelley quickly added, “I know it’s only been a week and the first week is always busy.”

“A couple. A girl in my apartment building, her name’s Jess. A girl in my communications class. That one’s name is Carli.”

“Oh I know Carli, she’s on the soccer team with me. She’s ... she’s... uh... the captain of the team! And I don’t think I know Jess, but I’m sure she’s great. I’m glad you’ve met friends!”

Kelley’s nervous babbling was interrupted by Hope’s name being called from one of the Panera Bread workers, signaling that their food was ready. Hope nodded to Kelley as she stood up, “I’ve got it, you stay here.”

Hope reappeared quickly with their tray, and set it on the table.

Both girls started eating their meals happily, and returned to their conversation.

“So... What made you transfer to Foudy University?”

Hope laughed, making butterflies form in Kelley’s stomach again, “Well. I was at Wambach College on a soccer scholarship. It’s not a bad college, but I didn’t like it. Foudy University was more of the atmosphere that I wanted, so I moved.”

“Oh soccer! You play soccer! Are you going to be on the soccer team here to? I haven’t seen you at practice.” Kelley’s face lit up, as it was starting to do often around Hope.

Shaking her head, Hope frowned slightly, “I broke my scholarship rules by transferring, so I didn’t get re-assigned to the team here.”

Kelley, already determined to have the older girl join the team, continued anyway, “What position do you play?”

“I was a goalkeeper.” Hope smiled, reminiscing slightly.

“Oh excellent! We have Ashlyn already in goal, she’s great, but we’re looking for a back up. You should come to try-outs.”

“Maybe.” Hope shrugged, choosing to focus on her sandwich instead, so she wouldn’t disappoint the other girl.

Kelley realized that soccer was not going to be a fun topic for them, so she changed it. Instead she asked Hope what her favorite music was, leading the two girls to run down their list of favorites of any category they could think of.

Eventually, about an hour into it, they ran out of categories. Hope had long-finished her sandwich and now was leaning back in her chair, enjoying their conversation and patiently waiting as Kelley continued to make her way through the salad.

Kelley tried to think of another conversation topic as she brought her fork to her mouth.

Hope beat her to it, “Do you like girls or guys or both or neither or something else?”

Kelley almost choked on her food. That was not a question Kelley had expected Hope to ask her, and it took her by surprise. After several minutes of coughing, and downing nearly all of her drink and Hope getting up to get her another drink, Kelley had finally regained her composure. “Do I what?”

Sitting back down, Hope explained herself, “Your sexuality. I won’t judge, whatever it may be. I’m just curious.” Hope winked, smiling. “I can share first if you want.”

Kelley nodded, still nervous.

“I like both. As in both guys and girls. Girls slightly more though. Have done my whole life.” With another wink, Hope bit back a laugh as she took in Kelley’s blushed cheeks.

“Me too. But I only realized after freshman year.” Kelley’s voice was quiet, much quieter than it had been in the hours they had been at the restaurant already.

Hope raised an eyebrow and laughed gently, “Let me guess, college lesbian experience made you realize you were gay?”

Startled, Kelley dropped her fork, her eyes widening at Hope’s question. When she spoke, her voice was only barely audible, “No. No.”

Hope reached a hand out on top of Kelley’s hand, trying to calm the girl. But the younger girl pulled her own hand back sharply, fear etching onto her face again.

Unsure of what had just happened, Hope looked Kelley in the eyes, “What’s wrong?”

Kelley lowered her head, focusing her gaze on her napkin, avoiding Hope’s eyes. “I had a really bad relationship freshman year. He was... He... He wasn’t that nice. Then that summer, I realized I liked girls. That’s all.” Kelley picked up her fork again, and continued to eat her salad.

Hope leaned in, whispering. “I’m sorry that happened. Does he go to this school?”

Kelley froze. She knew the answer to that question, yes, but she didn’t want to share it. She didn’t want to poison Hope’s view of someone just because of her own thoughts on him.

“It’s okay. You can tell me.”

Kelley opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She nodded her head, almost imperceptibly.

Hope sighed internally. Whatever had happened had clearly affected Kelley deeply. She may have only known the younger girl for a week, but Hope was already ready to hunt down the guy and hurt him for having hurt Kelley. “What’s his name?”

“J...” It was such a soft whisper, that Hope only heard part of the name. But the tears filling up in Kelley’s eyes were enough to stop Hope from asking her to repeat it. Hope sat in silence, watching the younger girl, and wondering what had happened in her freshman year.

After a few minutes of silence, Kelley looked up again, a bright smile once again on her face. “Have you ever had fro-yo? We should get fro-yo after, it’s amazing. And since I asked you, it’s on me! We can go as soon as we’re finished.” Kelley looked at Hope’s plate, and back at hers. “Well as soon as I’m finished. I’m a slow eater, I’m sorry.” With a sheepish grin, she looked directly at Hope again.

The older girl smiled, happy that her friend was smiling again, but still thinking about her thoughts. “Sure, we’ll get fro-yo. I don’t mind waiting, you’re fun to talk to.”

Kelley beamed with happiness.

**Sunday, September 13th, 8:06 PM**

Tobin smiled as Kelley finished talking about her afternoon with Hope. The girls had curled up together on Kelley’s bed, and Tobin had let her best friend chatter on about lunch, and fro-yo, and walking through campus together after. Kelley’s smile didn’t fade as she talked, until the very end of her babbling.

“She asked about him.”

Tobin sat up slightly, concern etching into her features. “She knew?”

Kelley sighed, knowing she owed Tobin the whole story. “She asked if I liked girls or guys, I said girls but I only realized recently. She asked if it was the ‘lesbian college experience’.” Kelley paused, letting Tobin giggle wildly, before continuing, “I said no, a bad relationship happened and then I realized, and she kept asking questions. She asked if he went here and what his name was. I told her but I don’t know if she heard me.”

Tobin hugged her best friend tightly, knowing just how much Kelley hated talking about her past. But the bright smile returned on Kelley’s face, and Tobin found herself matching it.

“I really like her Tobs.”

“Good. Now she just has to pass the Tobin Test.”

**Monday, September 14th, 11:20 AM**

“I hate this class. It’s so useless.”

Kelley rolled her eyes, as Hope muttered the same words under her breath for the 15th time that class. “Hope. It’s required. And it’s almost over.”

“But it’s so pointless.”

Kelley rolled her eyes again. If you asked her, she would agree that the class wasn’t all that necessary, but some parts of it were interesting, and either way - it was required, they had to take it, there wasn’t much point complaining about it. “Just be happy that you’re sitting next to me.”

Hope’s laugh in response made Kelley feel better.

**Friday, September 18th, 5:45 PM**

“Hey Kells?” Tobin walked out of the shower area and into the locker room after practice, dressed in a TWLOHA tank top and jeans with nothing on her feet.

“TOBIN. Flip flops in the shower, I thought we’d agreed.” Alex, already showered and tucked away in her locker again to wait for the others, glared at her girlfriend.

“I did.” The older of the two held her shower flip flops up as evidence. “And then I took them off when I got out of the shower.”

While the rest of the girls in the locker room laughed, Tobin turned towards Kelley and tried again, “Hey Kells?”

Kelley nodded, and kept dancing.

Tobin moved closer to her and whispered as quietly as possible, trying not to attract anyone else’s attention. “Do you want to invite Hope to our movie night tonight?”

Kelley paused her dancing, catching her breath as she thought it over. “No. It’s too early still.”

With a nod of understanding, Tobin walked over to pull Alex out of her locker so they could head home and start preparing the living room for the movie night ahead.

Kelley stayed where she was, her head tilted, trying to picture how Hope would fit in at movie night.

She wouldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please answer all or some of these- 
> 
> 1\. Favorite spoken line?  
> 2\. Favorite non spoken line?  
> 3\. Favorite character so far?  
> 4\. Favorite moment so far?


	5. The Care Package

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A feverish Hope scares Kelley away, and Tobs finds out some information that worries her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please let me know what you think in the comments!

**Sunday, September 20th, 7:03 PM**

**From: Hope |** I don’t think I’m going to class tomorrow.

 **To: Hope |** Are you okay?  <3 Do you want me to send you any notes I take today?

 **From: Hope |** Yes just sick. Yes please.

 **To: Hope |** Awwe no ): I hope you feel better soon. Can I do anything to help? Will do (:

The three dots of an incoming reply didn’t appear immediately, and so Kelley left the conversation open on her phone and placed it face-up on the living room table, and continued with her homework while she waited for a reply.

 **From: Hope |** No, I’m fine. Thanks though.

Kelley frowned to herself, she never liked it when the people she cared about were hurting or feeling unwell. It was worse when she felt like she couldn’t help them, because Kelley had an insatiable desire to help people.

So Kelley did what Kelley did best. She ditched her plan for the evening - which admittedly was just binge watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix - and headed to the closest Target store.

 **Monday, September 21st, 10:15 AM**  

Kelley turned around in her seat to make a funny comment about what the professor had just said, only to find herself looking at an empty seat. That was the fourth time it happened since class had started less than a half hour earlier. To say class without Hope was boring would be an understatement.  

It happened sixteen more times throughout class, and when the professor finally ended the class, Kelley was the first one out the door.

**Monday, September 21st, 12:06 PM**

Hope heard the knock on her apartment door and ignored it, figuring it was just a neighbor wanting to borrow a cooking ingredient again.

At the second knock, Hope looked around for her phone. It had fallen about an hour ago somewhere in between the two blankets she had wrapped around herself, but she hadn’t much cared about it. When she found it, she unlocked it and sighed when she saw no new texts or missed calls - no indication of who it could be at the door.

Hope rolled her eyes, the point of getting a single apartment was so that she wouldn’t have to deal with people and yet here people were trying to deal with her against her will.

The third knock caused only an eyeroll and an irritated sigh. At this point it could only be one of two people - Carli Lloyd and Jess Fishlock - the first two friends Hope had made on campus.

The pair lived together in the apartment opposite Hope. Carli was a sports science major from Jersey who was captaining the soccer team. The girl was more focused than anyone Hope had ever met, a quality she much admired in Carli, although that sometimes backfired on her. Jess, on the other hand, was an international student who had left Wales for - as she called it - “A Great American Adventure”. So far that adventure had included getting into trouble on a weekly basis and occasionally showing up to class enough times that she would be able to graduate with a communications major. Carli and Jess were both as intense as human beings could get, leaving them to not form many friends on campus except for themselves and one other person, a guy they had met in their freshman year. 

The two girls were great friends, and had taken Hope under their collective figurative wings from the moment they realized she was as intense as they were. When they saw her moving her few items into the apartment on move-in weekend with no help from anyone, they had struck up a conversation with her, and soon after were helping her move in and taking her with them around campus. But they insisted on passive aggressively fighting each other over who was the better friend to Hope, which irritated the transfer student to no end.

Lately, the passive aggressive fight had turned into a comical “who can check on Hope the most times” which, while besides being entirely ineffective in making Hope feel any less sick, resulted in Hope having to open her door too many times a day. Whichever of the two was standing at the door that time around would stick a hand on Hope’s forehead, confirm to Hope that her fever was in fact still present, and then retreat back into their own apartment. If it wasn’t so annoying, Hope would probably have found it funny.

It was the fourth knock that got her up, marching straight to the door, her jaw locked and her eyes narrowed.

“I am FINE. You do NOT need to KEEP ON checking up on me. I am NOT a CHILD. For fuck’s sake I AM FINE.”

Hope grabbed the door to steady herself. It was neither Carli nor Jess at the door. Instead, it was a much smaller, much less intense person who looked frightened and near tears.

“Kelley?”

“Y-yeah. I... I ju-just...” Kelley swallowed loudly, her eyes wide and filled with tears, her body still shaking visibly from the force Hope had yelled at her with. “Here.”

Hope reached out to gently take the black paper bag from a pair of shaking arms. As soon as she had gotten hold of it, Kelley reached into her bag and pulled out several pages of paper and stretched those out in front of her. Hope took them gently with one hand, noticing how badly Kelley was shaking, and looked at the pages. It was all of the notes from class earlier that day, that she had evidently written carefully onto notebook paper as she typed up her own notes through class. Hope stared at the pages in her hand, the notes were written out so neatly and color coded to make everything even clearer.

By the time Hope looked up to thank Kelley, the younger girl had already disappeared down the hallway and around the corner. Hope sighed, closed the door, and headed back to her blankets on the couch to look through the black bag Kelley had handed her just minutes earlier.

Hope smoothed out the thick blanket to create a flat surface, and turned the bag upside down, letting its contents spill out in front of her. A gasp escaped her as she realized what Kelley had put in the bag. Hope brought a hand to her heart involuntarily, a gesture she hadn’t done since she was a very young child.

The bag was filled with everything and anything that a person may want when they were sick. There were practical items - Advil, Tylenol, Vaseline, a packet of tissues, and EmergenC - to help with the sickness. There were items to make hot drinks - an assortment of tea bags, hot chocolate packets, and even a small ziplock filled with marshmallows. There were snacks - a few microwave popcorn packets, some Snickers bars, Reese’s minis, Sour Punch straws - Kelley had somehow managed to include all of Hope’s favorites. There were random little items - a stress relief buddy, hand warmers, a chapstick, and hand lotion. Lastly, there was a book, a well-read book with pages that had been thumbed through many times and corners that had been bent and unbent to mark where the reader had stopped at. As she flipped through the book lightly, Hope noticed that the pages had been marked too, little notes had been scribbled in corners and margins and words of the text had been underlined and highlighted.

The bright yellow sticky note on the inside front page of the book caught her eye.

“Hope,

I know being sick sucks, and I know none of this is a cure for it but I hope it at least puts a smile on your face for a little while. This is the book I always turn to when I’m sick and it always makes me feel better, so I hope it helps you feel better too.

\- Kelley”

Hope traced gently over the heart Kelley had doodled in the corner of the post it, and settled back to read the book, letting herself get lost in the story.

**Monday, September 21st, 3:00 PM**

A thunder and lightning storm had been overhead of Foudy University’s campus for hours now. Usually, that just meant indoor practice or weight lifting would happen instead of outdoor practice, but Coach Hamm had taken one look at the exhausted faces that entered the locker room and called a short team meeting instead, promising to let them go early.

Kelley snuck out of the locker room as quickly as she could and made her way to the meeting room before anyone else got there. She pulled her usual chair out of it’s spot, a cluster of six seats that the Lost Girls had pushed together a while back that no one had bothered rearranging since, knowing the girls would just end up pushing them back together at the next team meeting. Kelley looked at the room quickly and pulled the chair towards the farthest corner of the room.

Tobin and Alex were the first in the room, taking their seats. Tobin was too lost in her own world to notice that a chair was missing, but Alex’s perceptive nature was quick to notice it.

“Is she okay?” Alex nudged Tobin, looking towards the edge of the meeting room.

Tobin followed Alex’s gaze, landing on Kelley. 

Kelley’s head was ducked down, with her hair - not tied back in it’s usual ponytail - hanging down in front of her, hiding her slightly.

“Huh. It might just be the storm outside, they always get her spirits a little down.” But Tobin’s voice wavered as she spoke, unable to convince even herself.

Alex nodded, turning her face back towards the front of the room, waiting for the meeting to start.

Tobin watched out of the side of her eye as the rest of her friends piled into the room. Ashlynn and Ali were walking intertwined, Ali nuzzled into Ashlynn’s chest, and Ashlynn’s arms wrapped protectively against her girlfriend. Heather walked in just behind them, rolling her eyes slightly at their adorable antics.

Heather paused slightly as she sat in her seat, looking around for the sixth Lost Girl. She turned to Tobin, but one look in the direction Tobin was facing gave Heather the answer she had been looking for. That was a sight she hadn’t seen in awhile. Kelley didn’t do quiet and hiding and corners, in fact Kelley did all of the opposite and usually would have to be reminded to use her ‘indoor voice’ and to ‘calm down’ several times during a team meeting.

The more Heather stared at Kelley, the more concerned she got. This wasn’t the Kelley they knew and loved, this was the Kelley of freshman year that had them worried and scared for weeks on end. Heather turned slightly to Tobin, voicing her concern, “She’s shaking.”

Tobin narrowed her eyes to look more closely, and Kelley was indeed shaking. The girl looked up and made eye contact, causing Tobin to smile at her. The smile wasn’t returned, and there were fresh tear tracks marking Kelley’s cheeks.

Tobin’s slight smile vanished. 

**Wednesday, September 23rd, 9:55 AM**

“Hey Kelley.”

Kelley turned and lifted her face, a giant grin appearing on her face as she realized Hope was standing next to her. It faltered slightly when Hope took her seat though, and Kelley shuffled slightly to create more space between the two of them. 

“I’m not contagious Kelley, the fever’s gone. I just have a stuffy nose and a sore throat now.” Hope rasped the words out, her voice significantly lower than it usually was.

Kelley nodded slightly, but didn’t move in her seat again.

Hope smiled slightly, confused because Kelley had never shown any signs of being a germaphobe. Feeling awkward at the unusual silence between them, Hope said the first thing that came to mind, “I’m so hungry. I forgot breakfast.”

When Kelley passed a small Ziplock of nuts across the desk only moments later, Hope realized that Kelley wasn’t a germaphobe. Something else was wrong, and Hope wasn’t sure how to ask, she just knew she wanted to see the freckled face smile again. “Thank you for your care pack. It was perfect.”

Kelley smiled nervously, and looked towards Hope. The younger girl’s shoulders shook slightly as she faced Hope and spoke to her quietly. “You’re welcome Hope and I promise I didn’t mean to make you angry by knocking on your door. I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking. I should have texted you first or called you or I should have just left it outside of your door I’m so so sorry Hope I didn’t mean to and I won’t do that ever again I’m sorry I just-”

Hope smiled when Kelley finally paused to take a breath. “You didn’t make me angry. I thought it was Carli or Jess coming to check up on me for the millionth time. You made me happy.”

A small smile formed on Kelley’s face, and she shifted in her seat so she was close to Hope again.

Gently, Hope wrapped an arm around Kelley’s shoulder and hugged her tightly, as much of a hug as it could be for the way they were sitting beside each other with a desk in front of them.

Kelley flinched out of habit, but soon let herself relax into the awkward hug for a moment, squirming out of it as soon as the professor started his lecture of the day. 

**Thursday, September 24th, 12:31 PM**

**From: Tobin** | Hey, let’s invite Hope to movie night

 **To: Tobin** | I don’t think that’s a good idea Tobs.

 **From: Tobin** | Why

 **To: Tobin** | I don’t think she’d enjoy it... She’s not friends with the rest of us, she only really hangs out with Carli and Jess...

 **From: Tobin** | Why don’t we invite them too

 **To: Tobin** | Tobs, I couldn’t do that!! It’s your house I can’t just bring over a bunch of people.

 **From: Tobin** | It’s my house and I’m offering to invite them you goofball :P

 **To: Tobin** | I’ll think about it...

**Thursday, September 24th 10:58 PM**

Kelley sighed as her phone dinged with yet another text. Practice earlier that day had exhausted her, and rather than hang out in the locker rooms to chat, she’d showered as quickly as possible then headed straight home to do homework. She was still working at it hours later, and had been ignoring the several texts her phone had received already.

Her phone signaled two more texts, and Kelley ignored them both, finally typing out the conclusion of the paper she had worked on all night.

“Kelley?” Heather stuck her head around Kelley’s door, relieved to find her roommate alive and functioning.

When Kelley held up one finger and continued typing, Heather waited patiently, leaning back against the doorframe.

Kelley typed the last sentence of the paper, saved it quickly and then turned to face her roommate. “Hi HAO.”

“Hi Kelley.” Heather laughed slightly at the younger girl’s dorkiness before becoming serious again. “Tobin called me, she wanted me to check on you. You ran off after practice and you haven’t answered your phone since then." 

Kelley sighed, though she loved her friends sometimes they worried about her too much. “I’m fine, I had a paper to finish. I’ll text her now.”

Heather smiled gently at her friend, walking into her room to give her a quick hug and thanking her before heading to bed.

Kelley changed into her pajamas, rolling her eyes as she heard one more new text message sound from her phone. When she was finally changed, she curled up in bed and opened her phone to find 21 new messages from several people.

 **From: Tobin** | You left the locker room before I could ask you - did you think about inviting them to movie night

 **From: Tobin** | Walking home from practice without you is quiet

 **From: Tobin** | Seriously though Kells

 **From: Alex** | Hey Kelley, can you message Tobin so she knows you’re alive?

 **From: Tobin** | You don’t have to invite them if you don’t want to

 **From: Ali** | KO did you keep the hair band I lent you by accident? The pink one?

 **From: Tobin** | We could do a BBQ before the movie you can invite them to that 

 **From: Tobin** | I just want to make sure she doesn’t hurt you

 **From: Tobin** | Kells?

 **From: Ashlynn** | Hey Kelley?

 **From: Tobin** | Tell me you’re alive please

 **From: Ali** | It’s okay if you kept my hair band. Just message me so I know you haven’t died because if you’re dead I won’t ever get that hair band back.

 **From: Ashlynn** | Ignore Ali, she’s tactless. But please give us a sign you’re alive.

 **From: Tobin** | I’ll get you donuts if you tell me you’re alive

 **From: Ali** | Ashlynn said that was too sassy, I apologize.

 **From: Alex** | Please message Tobin. Or message me if you don’t want to talk to Tobin. She just wants to know you’re alive.

 **From: Tobin** | If you don’t reply soon I’m calling HAO

 **From: Ashlynn** | KO we all love you, please talk to us.

 **From: Tobin** | Ok I’m calling HAO

 **From: Tobin** | HAO said you’re alive thank God for that

 **From: Tobin** | She also said that you’re going to text me so I’ll wait patiently for that

Kelley sighed at the ridiculousness of her friends, all she had been doing was homework in her room, but she couldn’t help the smile that formed on her face at the clear sign of how loved she was. She started typing out a reply to each girl, starting with Tobin.

 **To: Tobin** | I’m alive, stop worrying. Give me a minute to text the others since you freaked them all out then I’ll explain.

 **To: Alex** | Sorry! I was doing homework. I’ve messaged Tobin already. Thanks for checking on me (:

 **To: Ali** | Sorry! I was doing homework. I do still have your hair band, I’m sorry, it’s on my wrist, I’m sorry! I’ll give it back at practice tomorrow.

 **To: Ashlynn** | Sorry! I was doing homework. I love you too Ash  <3 Thank you.

 **To: Tobin** | Okay. I’m sorry for worrying you. I was writing up my paper so I ignored my phone for a while so I wouldn’t get distracted. But yes I’m alive and you owe me a donut now hahah.

Kelley’s smile grew bigger as she got three texts telling her it was okay and that she didn’t need to apologize. Kelley wished the three of them goodnight and returned to her conversation with Tobin.

 **From: Tobin** | I’M SO HAPPY

 **From: Tobin** | I was worried something had happened 

 **To: Tobin** | Just homework, I’m sorry.

 **From: Tobin** | Hey don’t apologize

 **From: Tobin** | But next time you need to disappear for a while just let me know beforehand

 **To: Tobin** | I promise.

 **From: Tobin** | So have you given the movie night any thought

 **To: Tobin** | Yes.

 **From: Tobin** | Yes and

 **To: Tobin** | Yes and I’m not going to invite them. It would be too awkward I’m sorry.

 **From: Tobin** | It’s okay you don’t need to apologize

 **To: Tobin** | Thanks Tobs. I’m gonna get some sleep, okay?

 **From: Tobin** | Sleep tight love you Kells 

**Friday, September 25th, 7:35 PM**

“Tobin? Alex?” HAO knocked on the young couple’s door, having arrived early as per Tobin’s instructions.

Tobin opened the door, and pulled on Heather’s arm, dragging the older girl all the way through the house until they reached her room. Tobin pushed Heather gently until she was sitting beside Alex on the bed, then traced back a few steps to shut the bedroom door and sitting besides the other two on the bed. 

“What’s up?” Both Tobin and Alex stared at Heather, who was now beyond confused. She looked between the two girls, waiting for one of them to speak, but neither did. Trying to ease the tension that had filled the room, Heather cracked a joke, “What, is one of you pregnant?”

Nervous laughter came from both of the girls as the tension eased slightly.

Tobin bit her lip and chewed on it slightly. The doorbell ringing caused her to groan, “No one else was supposed to get here early.”

Alex jumped up, “I’ll distract them, you two talk." 

Heather waited until the door had clicked shut behind Alex before she asked Tobin again, “Okay, what’s up?”

“Something’s wrong with KO.”

Heather raised her eyebrows, trying to understand where Tobin was coming from.

“I asked her to invite Hope to our movie night and she kept saying no because it wouldn’t go well.” Tobin bit on her lip again, worry reappearing within her.

“That doesn’t sound like her.” Heather reached out to rub Tobin’s arm gently, trying to comfort the younger girl, still without really knowing what was up.

“Yeah. She said Hope wouldn’t fit in with us.” Tobin watched as Heather nodded slightly, and took that as encouragement to continue. “She said Hope hangs out mostly with Carli and Jess.”

Heather’s eyes opened wide, that was the last thing she had expected. “Oh no.”

“Yeah...” Tobin nodded her head glumly.

“Does that mean Hope knows...?” Heather’s voice turned into a whisper, unwilling to speak the name.

Tobin shrugged as she spoke, “She didn’t say anything, but I think so.”

“That’s not good. At all.” Heather bit her lip, mirroring Tobin’s actions from a few moments earlier.

“MOVIE NIIIIIIIGHT!”

Both Tobin and Heather’s eyes widened slightly as they heard Kelley’s voice echo through the house and her footsteps make their way towards Tobin’s bedroom.

Heather hugged Tobin gently, patting her back and whispering, “It’ll be okay. We’ll keep an eye out. It’ll be okay.”

Tobin nodded, thanking her silently as Kelley burst into the room, a whirlwind of energy and hugs, and pulled them into the living room so movie night could be started.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. favorite moment?  
> 2\. favorite character?  
> 3\. who do you think Tobs and HAO were talking about?  
> 4\. any predictions?


	6. The Migraine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelley's head starts hurting, and two surprise guests show up at movie night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please let me know what you think in the comments! any feedback at all helps me get better as a writer (:

**Monday, September 28th, 9:53 AM**

 

Hope walked into class, with the music she was blasting trickling out through her earphones for all the other early-birds to hear. She made her way over to her seat, stopping suddenly when she saw something that surprised her. 

 

The younger girl was slumped forwards in her seat and leaning into the wall on her left. Her left arm was crossed atop the desk, with her forehead resting on it, eyes tightly shut. Her right arm was resting on the desk, stretched out in front of her, as though she was making a barrier between herself and the rest of the class. 

 

Every time she had walked into class so far, Hope had been greeted with a large wave and an even larger smile by the younger girl. Hope had never even seen the usually happy and goofy girl sit still for longer than 10 seconds at a time, let alone like this. “Kell?” 

 

Kelley raised a hand weakly as a greeting, not moving her head or unclenching her eyes. The migraine that had started to take form last night wasn't going away any time soon and the bright lights of the classroom only made it worse. Being Kelley, she wouldn’t let herself skip class under any circumstances, no matter how many times Tobin had tried to convince her over the course of their friendship that missing one class would not result in death. And being Kelley, she was determined to not complain about feeling sick. She would much rather focus on others than on herself. 

 

"Are you still sick?" Though the younger girl's voice was muffled against the sleeve of the arm her head was resting on, the care in it was evident. 

 

Hope sat down in her seat, not taking her eyes off of Kelley as she spoke, “My cough is still lingering, but I’m not sick anymore.” Her voice was still slightly raspy from having coughed constantly throughout the entire weekend, but the bags under her eyes had disappeared, and her face had regained some color again. 

 

Not that Kelley noticed that, as the younger girl still hadn’t taken her head off the desk. But Kelley smiled softly at the older girl’s voice, happy to hear that Hope was better. 

 

“How are you?” Hope asked the question lightly, more looking for Kelley to admit how she was feeling than actually asking, since it would have been obvious to anyone who looked their way that Kelley O’Hara was not feeling okay that morning. 

 

“M’fine.”

 

Hope sighed, not happy with Kelley’s stubborn nature only increasing when the younger girl was sick. “Really, Kell? Cause you’re sprawled out over your desk and you’re clenching your eyes so tight it’s like you’re trying to shut the entire world out.” 

 

As if she suddenly remembered she was in a lecture hall and not her own room, Kelley bolted upright, blinking furiously against the harsh light that caused a spike in pain to flash through her head. After a minute, when her eyes had adjusted enough to look around, Kelley looked Hope straight in the eye and beamed her usual goofy smile. “M’fine. Just daydreaming.”

 

Hope raised an eyebrow, skeptical about the truth behind the reply, but unsure of how to respond to the younger girl at this point. “Okay. Well, how was your weekend?”

 

Kelley’s face turned slightly paler as her mind went blank on an appropriate answer. She had spent Saturday on the soccer pitch in the freezing cold weather, staying long after their morning practice to kick balls towards the goal, until Heather had shown up around 8pm to drag her back to their apartment and force her to take a warm shower. Sunday had been spent shivering under a pile of blankets, trying to warm herself back up again but to no avail. 

 

“It was fine.”

 

Their professor started class as Kelley’s words were said, not leaving any time for them to be questioned or replied to. Hope kept her eye on Kelley as the professor went over the study guide for the midterm, but the younger girl was staring at the wall straight ahead, eyes glossed over, completely unfocused. 

 

Neither of them spoke again until class ended, and they walked wordlessly towards their apartments. Hope looked at Kelley every few steps, and the younger girl kept her head ducked down, looking at the ground and sniffling every few steps. It wasn’t until they had reached Hope’s apartment building that Kelley looked directly at her again. 

 

Kelley’s eyes were bloodshot and she was fighting to keep them open, clearly exhausted. 

 

Hope shuffled awkwardly on her feet, then made her decision, “I’m going to walk you home.”

 

Kelley furrowed her brow, and tried to speak, but the sound that came from her throat was unintelligible. 

 

“What did you say, Kell?”

 

Kelley simply pointed at the building behind Hope, and then at Hope herself, and then to the building again.    
  
“I know I live here. But you live over there.” Hope pointed to Kelley’s building down the road, and then moved towards the younger girl. She placed an arm gently around Kelley’s waist and began guiding her home. “You’re clearly sick, and you need help getting home. I just want to make sure you get back okay.”

Kelley nodded limply and let herself be helped home. Hope held onto her as they made their way into the building’s entrance, and took her to the elevator. She waited with a hand poised over the elevator’s keypad, until Kelley held up three fingers, then clicked the button for the third floor. 

 

Kelley whispered the apartment’s door number as the elevator opened, and Hope gently pulled her along to the room. The younger girl’s head was now lying on Hope’s shoulders, and her eyes were closed tightly again, trying to push away the migraine that was building in intensity. 

 

Hope took one look at Kelley and decided against asking her for her room key. Instead, she knocked softly on the door, hoping Kelley’s roommate was home. 

 

She was. Heather was sitting at the couch with a book in hand when she heard the knock. She turned her head to the door, confusion on her face. Their friends knew to walk straight into the apartment and Kelley never forgot her key. 

 

At the second knock, slightly louder than the first, Heather got up to open the door. 

 

“Hell-Kelley? And you’re....”

 

“Hope. We have class together and she- well I’m not sure. She kept saying she’s fine but she’s not.”

 

Heather leaned forwards to gently place a hand on Kelley’s forehead, but there were no signs of a fever. 

 

At the contact, Kelley opened her eyes, smiled at Heather, and then scrunched her eyes back up in a weak attempt to stop the bright hallway light from causing more pain. 

 

Heather sighed as she recognized what was going on, and took Kelley from Hope’s arms. “It’s a migraine, she used to get them really frequently, but she hasn’t had one in a while. Here, let me take her to her room, you can come in and make yourself at home.”

 

As Heather lead Kelley gently to her bed and tucked her in, Hope stood awkwardly just inside the doorway of their apartment. It was decorated colorfully with lots of cozy seats scattered around, and paintings hung up all over the wall; quite the opposite to Hope’s own apartment. 

 

Heather reappeared, and realized how awkwardly Hope was standing and how strange this must be for her. Though Heather had heard all about Hope from Kelley, she doubted the girl knew much about Kelley’s other friends. “Hi Hope. I’m Heather, Kelley’s roommate and Irish soul sister. You can call me Heather or you can call me HAO.” 

 

Hope giggled slightly, and smiled at Heather. “Hi Heather. I’m Hope as you know, and Kelley’s classmate and uh...friend...I guess?”

 

“Thanks for bringing her home, once a migraine hits her she’s useless until it’s passed and she’s too stubborn to ask for help ever.” Heather looked over to the kitchen where she had been making lunch for her and Kelley and an idea hit her. “Hey why don’t you stay for lunch? I made more than enough for two and Kelley won’t be eating until she wakes up again anyway. I’d love to get to know you.”

 

Hope smiled gratefully but shook her head, “I made lunch plans with my friend Jerramy already, but thank you.”

 

Heather nodded slowly, unable to reply. 

 

Thinking she had offended Heather for turning down her generous offer, Hope tried to make it up to her, “But another time?”

 

Heather nodded again, and waved weakly as Hope made her way out of the door with a smile. 

 

**Monday, September 28th, 6:09 PM**

 

Kelley blinked as she heard a door being unlocked and voices getting louder. 

 

“You’re sure she said Jerramy?”

 

“Yes, Tobin, I’m sure.”

 

Kelley squinted in the dark as she tried to figure out what was going on. 

 

“What if it’s someone else with the same name?”

 

“No, that can’t be there’s only one at our school.”

 

“Does she know?”

 

_ That sounds like Tobs. Why is Tobs here? _

 

“I don’t think so.”

 

“Do we tell her?”

 

“If we do she’ll get upset.”

 

“And if we don’t she’ll get hurt.”

 

Kelley turned towards the sound, trying to hear better. She tried to figure out who they were talking about, but her head hurt too much to understand. 

 

“What if he-”

 

“Guys.”

 

“-her too?”

 

_ Ashlynn?! _

 

“Guys.”

  
“He wouldn’t.”

 

“GUYS.”

 

Kelley winced at the loud voice.  _ Heather. _

 

“She can hear us.”

 

Kelley nodded, she could definitely hear them. 

 

Her room was flooded with light, as the door opened and the three girls walked in, causing Kelley to wince again. 

 

“Sorry, sorry.” Heather whispered as she turned the light back off, and walked over to the bed quickly. “How are you feeling?”

 

Kelley shrugged gently, the movement causing a sharp pain to shoot through her head again. “Ouch.”

 

Two more bodies, Tobin and Ashlynn stood by Heather.  _ I was right, Tobs and Ash. _

 

Heather fixed her eyes on Kelley’s and spoke quietly. “I have to go to the library for a few different group meetings, and I likely won’t be back until late, but these two will look after you, okay?”

 

Kelley nodded, silently mouthing ‘thank you’ and watched as Heather left her room, then listened as Heather picked up her belongings and left their apartment. 

 

As the two stood over her bed, Tobin lost in her own little word and Ashlynn looking in concern, in dawned on Kelley that she was supposed to be getting ready for practice. She tried to get up, only to be pushed gently back into bed by Ashlynn. 

 

“But soccer-”

 

“Shhh, Coach Hamm knows you have a migraine, it’s okay.”

 

The confused look Kelley gave her in return was adorable, and Ashlynn couldn’t help but smile at her. “We told her you have a migraine and she was happy you were too tired to drag yourself to practice. You’ve got to take care of yourself Kelley.”

 

Kelley’s smile returned as she understood what had happened, and she thanked both girls and made a mental note to thank her roommate later. 

 

Kelley got up slowly and changed into pajamas as Ashlynn glared silently at Tobin until the girl returned to the present moment. 

 

The three girls made their way into the living room and piled onto the couch. With their limbs intertwined, they cuddled together until Kelley fell asleep, her migraine taking control of her again. Ashlynn looked at Tobin’s concerned face and turned the TV on to distract her, lowering the volume as much as possible as she found the soccer channel. The two of them talked softly, making sure not to wake Kelley up, until Heather came back hours later. 

 

**Wednesday, September 30th, 10:05 AM**

 

**From:** **Hope** | You’re not in class. 

 

**Wednesday, September 30th, 10:11 AM**

 

**From:** **Hope** | You never miss class.

 

**Wednesday, September 30th, 10:16 AM**

 

**From: Hope** | Do you want me to take notes for you?

 

**Wednesday, September 30th, 10:18 AM**

 

**From:** **Hope** | I’ll take notes for you just in case. 

 

**Wednesday, September 30th, 10:42 AM**

 

**From:** **Hope** | Are you okay?

**Wednesday, September 30th, 11:54 AM**

 

**From:** **Hope** | Kelley are you okay?

 

**Wednesday, September 30th, 7:15 PM**

 

**To:** **Hope** | Hey it’s Alex, Kelley’s doing okay. Her migraine is gone, just a headache now, but the screen brightness on her phone makes it worse so she asked me to text you back for her. She says thanks for the notes!

 

**From:** **Hope** | Okay. Tell her feel better soon. 

 

Alex sighed deeply as she read Hope’s reply, letting Kelley’s phone back onto the couch beside her. “She said she hopes you feel better soon, and she took notes for you in class.”

 

Kelley shuffled slightly from her position, sprawled out on the couch, her head in Alex’s lap as she read through the printed out pages of a PDF for one of her classes. “Thanks Al. I’m sorry to be such a pain.”

 

“You’re not  _ a _ pain, you’re  _ in _ pain, Kell.” Alex reached down to stroke the older girl’s forehead gently, knowing Kelley refused to admit how much pain she was in and did her best to hide it. 

 

Kelley was in fact doing just that. Her migraines usually lasted a few days and then faded off slowly, but this one was particularly harsh. Loud sounds bothered her, bright lights bothered her, moving bothered her. She had managed to get through practice both Tuesday and today, but only by gritting her teeth together and smiling. 

 

Alex had watched her closely at practice, and had followed Kelley and Heather home, giving Tobin a quick goodbye kiss, under the pretense of asking for help for her intro to science requirement class. 

 

Kelley had dutifully helped her, then had begrudgingly let Alex give her a shoulder massage as a ‘thank you’ and now found herself getting her reading done while lying on the couch with her head in Alex’s lap all as the younger girl did her best to subtly comfort her.

 

“Thanks Al. It’s not that bad though, just a headache.” Kelley spoke as confidently as she could, hoping Alex didn’t hear the shake in her voice. 

 

“Kelley, sit up a minute please?” Alex waited until the older girl was sitting upright and looked her straight in the eye. “Why do you try and hide any pain you feel ever?”

 

Kelley ducked her head, mumbling, “Don’t wanna...look...weak...pathetic...don’t wanna.”

 

Alex lifted Kelley’s chin gently until they were eye to eye again. “Kelley O’Hara, am I weak or pathetic or any adjective similar to those?”

 

“No!” Kelley’s eyes bugged out at Alex’s unexpected question. 

 

Alex nodded knowingly in response, “Then neither are you. Pain happens because that’s our body’s way of saying something isn’t okay. Admitting when it hurts is helpful. To you and to those around you too. I get migraines too, Kell, and I used to try and hide them from Tobin. It didn’t help anything.”

 

Kelley nodded slowly, remembering all the times she’d seen Alex wince and hold her head in pain. “Thanks Al. I just... they just... I...” Kelley sighed loudly in frustration. “They always help me, I don’t want to ask every time.”

 

“Kell, you can tell me, okay? I understand if you can’t tell Heather or Tobs or Ash, but you can tell me. And I’ll tell you when I get them. That way we can help each other, okay?”

 

“Deal.” Kelley let Alex hug her gently, before lying back down again and placing her head in Alex’s lap once more. It didn’t take long for Kelley to fall asleep. 

 

**Friday, October 2nd, 6:14 PM**

 

“Kells, are you sure you’re up for watching a movie tonight?”

 

“Yes.” Kelley rolled her eyes as she answered Tobin’s question for the third time already on their walk home.

 

“You’re sure?”

 

‘Tobin Powell Heath if you ask me that one more time I swear to-”

 

“OKAY okay I was just checking!” Tobin laughed as she got pushed off the sidewalk by her best friend, knowing she was being annoying at that point. 

 

Alex, a few feet ahead, turned around and walked backwards to face the group, “Are any guests coming or is it just us girls again?”

 

Tobin, now safely back on the sidewalk, grabbed Ashlynn’s hand and thrust it into the air, both screaming together, “THE LOST GIRLS!”

 

Had it not been for Ali, Kelley’s answer would have gone unheard. “Kelley said something!!”

 

WIth five sets of eyes staring at her, Kelley’s freckled face turned bright red. “I, uh, I invited Hope?”

 

As Tobin, Ashlynn, and Heather looked at each other warily, Alex forced a smile onto her face and Ali cheered loudly. 

 

Kelley’s smile grew a little bigger as she took in Ali’s reaction and caught Alex’s smile from the corner of her eyes. “And uh, she said she’s bringing a couple friends. That’s okay right?” Kelley shot a worried look at Tobin and Alex, wishing she had checked with them first. 

 

Alex, still carefully holding a grin, nodded immediately. 

 

Tobin joined in a beat later. “Sure, we’ll just order an extra pizza.”

 

**Friday, October 2nd, 7:35 PM**

 

“SOMEONE GET THE DOOR!” Alex screeched through the house from the living room as she heard the knock for the second time. Her hands were too full with movie snacks and drinks to grab the door. 

 

Tobin ran through the kitchen, blowing a kiss towards Alex, and stopping at a halt just before crashing into the door, opening it before a third knock could be placed. 

 

“Hello?”

 

“Tobin?”

 

“Yeah that’s me. You must be Hope? Kelley said she’d invited you.” Tobin smiled slightly. The girl looked exactly as Kelley had described her, and Kelley had been so excited about inviting her that Tobin desperately wanted to like her. “Why don’t you come in? Alex is here of course, Ali and Ash are already on their way over, and Heather and Kells will be here soon.”

 

“Thank you.” Hope stepped through the front door then turned around to point behind her. “Kelley said I could bring a couple of friends too. That’s Jess, and that’s Carli.”

 

Tobin smile faded as she made eye contact with the two.  _ Fuck. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you liked it! 
> 
> 1\. favorite line/moment?  
> 2\. favorite character?  
> 3\. who would you like to see more of in the story?  
> 4\. any predictions?


	7. The Movie Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelley's guests clash with Kelley's friends causing a little drama at movie night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this update took a little longer than usual because i'm in the middle of final exams that are currently taking over my life, i'm sorry! it's also a little bit shorter than usual but i think it works
> 
> please let me know what you think!

**Friday, October 3rd, 7:36 PM**

 

Tobin breathed in and out a few times, calming herself down. She invited all three of Kelley’s guests in. She let them make themselves at home in the living room as she hurried back to the kitchen, almost crashing into Alex as she did so, who was heading out of the kitchen and towards the living room with snacks. 

 

Tobin pulled on her girlfriend’s arm, redirecting her into the kitchen and ignoring her glare.    
  


“We have a problem.”

 

Alex raised an eyebrow. Usually it was Alex saying those words to Tobin since Tobin Heath was the definition of chill, and had a very go-with-the-flow personality. 

 

“Hope brought guests.”

 

_ Since when has Toby had an issue with guests? _ Alex’s eyebrows arched up higher.

 

“It’s Carli. And Jess Fishlock.”

 

The snacks and drinks in Alex’s arms went crashing to the floor as she stood back in surprise. Neither of the two made any move to pick them up, staring at each other wide-eyed with concern.

 

“What are we going to do?”

 

“TOBIIIIIIN. WE’RE HERE!”

 

Tobin rolled her eyes at Ashlynn’s timing, but was grateful that her and Alex wouldn’t be left to deal with this situation alone. 

 

“Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. We can’t leave them alone in there with  _ them.  _ Ashlynn will find a fish and slap one of them.” Alex shook her head, knowing all too well how protective Ashlynn was of Kelley. 

 

Smiling at the memory of Ashlynn’s favorite story to tell, Tobin hugged Alex quickly. “I’ll go deal with them, you just pick up the snacks you dropped all over the floor.” Tobin laughed loudly at Alex’s confused expression, only just now realizing that she had dropped everything she’d been holding. 

 

Tobin made sure to close the door behind her before walking to the living room, stopping still when she entered. 

 

Ashlynn and Ali were glaring at Carli and Jess, who were glaring right back; while Hope was obliviously texting away on her phone. Heather, who Tobin hadn’t even heard walk in, was standing in the middle of the room, looking back and forth between everyone else with a very concerned look on her face. 

 

Tobin looked wearily at the “Where’s KO?”

 

“She’s coming. She can’t find her keys.” Hope spoke, not taking her eyes off her phone.

 

HAO rolled her eyes, knowing all too well that Kelley knew exactly where her keys were but was still trying on every clothing item in both their wardrobes, “Tell her they’re on the hook by the door.”

 

“Ash? Ali? HAO? Can you help me in the kitchen please?”

 

“I’ll help!” Hope volunteered, missing the glares from her two friends as her eyes still locked onto her phone. 

 

“No, it’s okay. These three already know where everything is.” Tobin looked at the couple pointedly, and then walked to the kitchen, three steps of footsteps following her. 

 

As soon as the kitchen door closed again, chaos erupted. 

 

“What are they doing here?!”

 

“If they bring  _ him _ over, I’m killing him.”

 

“Does Kelley know that’s who Hope invited?”

 

“It’s bad enough that we have to see Carli on the days she chooses to grace us with her presence at practice.”

 

“Seriously, I will.”

 

“Does she even know who they are?”

 

“I mean it, I will kill him.”

 

“Yeah how come our captain doesn’t have to come to practices?”

 

“Like, does she know that they’re best friends with him?”

 

“If he hurts her again, I’m going to cut his balls off.”

 

“She trains with James, you know that.”

“If he ever again goes near her and-”

 

“What’s going on?”

 

Five surprised faces looked around to Kelley, standing in the kitchen door frame. The surprise turned to guilt, as they realized they’d been caught talking about her behind her back. 

 

Ali was the first to react, pulling Kelley into the kitchen and closing the door tightly behind her. 

 

“Do you know who’s out there?” Ashlynn asked gently, trying to keep the tension in the room at a minimum.    
  


Kelley nodded slowly, amused by her friends’ weirdness and whatever they were up to. “Hope, Carli, and their friend Jess.”

 

“Do you know Jess’s last name? Or who Jess is?” Tobin crossed her fingers in her pocket, not even sure which answer she was hoping for. 

 

“No? I just know she’s their friend Jess.” Kelley smiled slightly. “Can we go watch the movie and eat now? I’m hungry.”

 

They watched as Kelley walked back out of the kitchen and into the living room, then looked at each other nervously. 

 

Tobin’s head was ducked down, avoiding eye contact. 

 

Alex played with a small silver ring on her right hand as she spoke, “Do we tell her?” Her eyes were wide, scared, as she stared at the other girls waiting for a response. 

 

A few looks were exchanged between rest of them, but before any of them could speak, Tobin raised her head. 

 

“No. No, we don’t tell her. All that will do is upset her and push her away from us and straight to them. We let them tell her.” Tobin’s face was set with seriousness, a rare look for the girl, but it matched the situation. 

 

They looked at each other warily before trudging to the living room, each one hoping the night would end well but not believing that was a possibility. 

 

Carli and Jess had sat themselves on the floor, in front of the couch that Hope had been reclining on. Kelley had situated herself in Hope’s arms, the older girl’s phone now abandoned somewhere on the floor, no longer needed. 

 

Ali picked up the DVD case for  _ She’s The Man _ and walked towards the DVD player, quickly interrupted by Ashlynn waving  _ Happy Feet _ around, claiming that they just  _ had _ to watch the movie. Alex and HAO both took a side in the argument, and Hope was too enamored with Kelley to pay attention to the discussion, leaving Tobin alone with Carli and Jess. 

 

The tension was almost palpable as Tobin faced Jess. “Long time no see. How did you meet Kelley?” 

 

With a small nod of acknowledgement Jess tilted her head towards the couch, “Hope.” Jess’s answer was simple enough, but she saw from Tobin’s expression that that wasn’t enough of an explanation. “Hope kept talking about her, so I went over to say hello while they studied for their midterm. She’s great.”

 

“Yeah, she is.” Tobin’s eyes narrowed slightly, a flare of anger flashing through them. 

 

Having finally settled on a movie the rest of their group joined them, draping themselves on any available surface, or in a very sulky Alex’s case onto Tobin’s lap.

 

Ali, stretched out on the second couch beside Ashlynn, looked right at Jess and Carli, “How long have you known Hope?”

 

“Since September.”

 

“Yeah, we met her during move in.”

 

Hope smiled at the memory, “They helped me move my things in, it was nice of them.”

 

“Ahh so Carli does have a friendly bone in her body.” Heather teased the girl lightly, having known her longer than anyone else in the room. “You should practice with the team more often, we barely see you. Even when you’re with us you don’t really talk to us unless it’s orders on the pitch.”

Carli shrugged in response, mumbling something about James Galanis. 

 

Ashlynn lifted her head from the couch to face Carli head-on, “HAO’s right. I didn’t even know you knew Jess. How long have you two known each other?”

 

“Freshman year.”

 

“Since orientation.”

Carli smiled as she began explaining, “We were assigned as roommates. We became pretty good friends quickly, and just kept rooming with each other since then.”

 

Heather, having finally inserted the DVD and gotten it to the home screen, gave a quick cheer and clicked play and the opening credits of  _ Happy Feet _ started. Ashlynn cheered loudly, laughing at Ali’s pout. 

 

Tobin, seeing Alex’s own pout, kissed her girlfriend gently, giving a whispered promise to watch  _ She’s The Man _ together later that night. 

 

Alex cheered up at that prospect and scrambled off of Tobin’s lap so she could pass some of the snacks around. 

 

Jess took a handful of  “Are you all always this... welcoming?”

 

Nudging Carli with her elbow, Jess mock-whispered, “Huh. Maybe we really are the weird ones Carls.” 

 

“You’re the weird one. I’m normal.”

 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, m’dear.”

 

Noticing the rest of the girls’ confused looks, Jess stopped teasing Carli long enough to explain, “Apparently we’re too  _ intense _ for others, so we just stuck with each other.” Jess shrugged, laughing, quoting something she’d read on the internet that had resonated with her instantly, “I’d rather be someone’s shot of whisky than everyone’s cup of tea.” 

 

Carli nodded in agreement, “Yeah. Until Hope came along it was really just Jerramy and us.”

 

Tobin looked over at Kelley, noticing how the girl stiffened slightly in Hope’s arms at Carli’s sentence. With a subtle nod to Ashlynn, Tobin locked her eyes on Kelley, checking closely for her reaction. 

 

Ashlynn swallowed dryly, crossing her fingers subtly, and tried to make her voice sound nonchalant. “Do you all hang out with him a lot?”

 

“With Jerramy? Yeah he’s great.” Jess leaned back, a smile on her face. 

 

Tobin’s eyes narrowed as she watched Kelley stiffen again, clenching the edge of her t-shirt so tightly that her knuckles turned white. 

 

“Hope loves him, don’t you?”

 

Tobin saw Kelley’s jaw clench briefly before her best friend forced a smile on her face. Tobin saw how Kelley’s hands shook slightly as she pushed herself up off of Hope and off of the couch. And Tobin heard the waver in her voice as she walked towards the kitchen without turning to look at them, “I’m grabbing a beer, does anyone want anything?”

 

Hope nodded and spoke, but her reply was lost on the ears of Kelley’s close friends, too busy having a silent conversation between them of wide eyes and concerned looks. 

 

Alex got up, following her friend to the kitchen. “I’ll go make sure she doesn’t break and spill three bottles like she did last time.”

 

Heather paused the movie, turning her body towards the rest of the group as a serious look set over her face. 

 

Hope shifted in her place, her body cold now that Kelley was no longer sharing body warmth with her. Feeling several sets of eyes on her, Hope got nervous. “Did I say something wrong?”

 

“Hope, how much do you know about Jerramy?”

 

“A fair amount I’d say. He’s a senior like Carli and Jess and I. He’s into football, he likes Italian food, he likes driving around to calm down, tell me if I’m getting close to what you’re looking for.”

 

Ali reached around her girlfriend’s waist, tightly grasping Ashlynn’s hands in her own. Ashlynn looked down at her them, realizing for the first time that she had balled her hands up into fists. She relaxed them slightly, as Ali whispered in her ear to relax. 

 

Tobin chewed on her lip quietly, deep in thought, leaving Heather to continue the conversation. “Has he... has he talked to you about past relationships?”

 

“I know he’d had a slightly bad one a while back, but-”

 

“A slightly bad one? He had a SLIGHTLY bad one? HE had a slightly bad one?” Tobin leaped up from where she’d been sitting. Her usual carefree smile was gone, replaced by something much stronger; her mouth set, her nostrils flared, and her eyes ablaze with anger. 

 

Carli and Jess looked at each other, blushing with guilt, and shuffled backwards, out of Tobin’s range. 

 

Hope sat up. It was clear the girl had no idea what was happening or what had angered Tobin so much, but she tried valiantly to calm her down, “I don’t know what happened. All I know is it hurt him and now-”

 

“It HURT him? It hurt HIM?” Tobin’s voice was louder than anyone in the house had ever heard it, even on the pitch. “HE’S A -”

 

Tobin’s sentence cut off as the sound of something breaking in the kitchen distracted her. “Al? Kells?”

 

“WE’RE FINE!” Kelley called out in reassurance. 

 

That was all it took for Tobin to regain focus, and storm back to her bedroom. 

 

Hope stared quietly in the direction Tobin had stomped away in, having a silent discussion with herself before eventually following the younger girl. 

 

Ashlynn moved to follow them, but Ali pulled her back and shook her head slightly. Instead, they joined Heather in glaring at Carli and Jess.

 

“You didn’t tell her?”

 

The pair had the decency to shrug sheepishly, knowing they were in the wrong. “We just-

 

“What’s going on? Where’s Hope?” A startled Kelley looked at the five angry faces in confusion. “Is everyone okay?”

 

“Uhhh....”  

 

Heather sighed internally and plastered a smile on her face, “We’re fine Kell. Her and Tobin are talking.”

 

“Oh. Awesome.” Kelley situated herself back onto the sofa, beer in one hand, a large band-aid covering the palm of her other hand. 

 

Ashlynn untangled herself from Ali, and joined Kelley on the sofa, much to the smaller girl’s protests. “So how many injuries did you get and how many beers do you owe them?”

 

“Just the one.” Kelley held up the hand with the band-aid on it, a small frown on her face. “It’s not my fault they buy the unopenable beers. Plus, Tobin’s screams are what made me jump and that’s when it happened. What was going on out here?”

 

Carli raised her head, “We were-”

 

“Teasing her about how she almost got run over on her skateboard last week!” Ali squealed loud enough to drown on the rest of Carli’s response, and successfully captured Kelley’s attention. 

 

Kelley giggled and shook her head, the memory still fresh in her mind. “And the klutziest klutz award goes to...” 

 

“Kell it would still go to you.” Alex laughed at her two best friends’ antics as she sat down beside Kelley, squeezing the older girl in a side hug. She glanced over Kelley’s shoulder and smiled at Ashlynn, both having purposefully moved themselves onto the couch on either side of Kelley. 

 

Jess and Carli looked at each other nervously, holding a silent conversation for a few moments. Eventually, they both shrugged it off, turning around to face the group with cautious smiles. “Shall we start the movie again?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“No.”

 

“I wanna watch the movie, it’s movie night.”

 

Kelley shook her head, “But Hope and Tobs are-”

 

“They said to keep watching without them, they’ve already seen it enough times anyway.” Heather pressed play as she spoke, effectively answering the question for everyone. 

 

When Hope and Tobin did return, Tobin smiled at how her best friend was wrapped up in between her girlfriend and Ashlynn on the couch, leaving no room for anyone to join. She sat down in front of them, leaning against Alex’s legs. 

 

Hope sat down quietly, smiling when Kelley caught her eye and smirked with an I-can’t-help-it-that-I’m-trapped-in-a-people-nest look on her face. 

 

\--

 

**Friday, October 3rd, 11:47 PM**

 

Kelley stopped abruptly halfway through the door, one foot on the top step and one foot still inside the house, and turned around. “So did she pass?”

 

“Huh?” Tobin raised an eyebrow. 

 

“The ‘Tobin Test’? Did she pass?”

 

Tobin opened her mouth to reply and closed it again as she saw the eagerness in Kelley’s face awaiting her reply. Stalling for time, Tobin raised a hand up to rub the back of her neck, and furrowed her brow to appear deep in thought. “You know, Kell, I’m going to need some time to think about that.”

 

Kelley shrugged, she had no other Tobin Test responses to compare this one too. But Tobin hadn’t said no outright and so Kelley beamed a smile at her, “Okay but hurry, because I  _ really  _ like her.”

 

With that, Kelley took off running, grabbing Hope’s outstretched hand and pulling the older girl along with her into the night, towards their separate apartments. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> questions- 
> 
> 1\. favorite line  
> 2\. favorite moment?  
> 3\. favorite character in this chapter?  
> 4\. any predictions?


	8. The Midterm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope and Kelley take their midterm, and stress causes some arguments. Ali takes KO on a shopping trip, which ends in a donut and a panicked group text.

**Saturday, October 3rd, 3:38 AM**

 

“Hey Alex? Alex?” Tobin shook her girlfriend gently, checking if she was awake. 

 

“Mmmmph.” Alex opened one eye, using it to glare at Tobin when she saw what time it was. 

 

Tobin bit her lip nervously. Waking Alex was never a good idea, something Tobin had learned the hard way very early on in their relationship and had since avoided doing, but tonight she couldn’t help it. “I know, I know, it’s early. But I can’t sleep. I can’t sleep and I need your advice because I keep thinking about Hope and Kelley-”

 

And with that, Alex was sitting upright and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, her voice raspy with both sleep and concern. “What happened?”

 

“Hope didn’t know.” Tobin paused, swallowing her fear as she tried to explain, “She didn’t know about Jerramy. She thinks he’s this great guy who wouldn’t hurt a fly. She has no idea what he did to Kelley.”

 

“But you told her, right?”

 

Tobin hung her head, shrugging her shoulders sadly, “I couldn’t. It’s Kelley’s story.”

 

“Tobin!” Alex glared at the older girl, shocked at her admission. 

 

“That’s not even the bad part.” 

 

Alex softened her gaze on Tobin, speaking softly but firmly, “Tell me.”

 

Tobin shuddered, remembering Hope’s words, her own words shaking as she spoke. “She told me she sees a lot of herself in him.”

 

The room fell silent, save for Alex’s sharp intake of breath. “No... Please no.”

 

Tobin shook her head, silent tears already falling down her cheeks. “Alex...” The older girl choked on her words, too worked up to speak. She felt the younger girl’s arms wrap around her as she tried to get her words out, “I don’t- I can’t- see her- I don’t - hurt again- she doesn’t- deserve- I can’t... I just can’t.”

 

Alex grabbed her phone from the nightstand as she hugged Tobin as tightly as she could with one arm. “I’m here, Tobs, I’m here. It’s going to be okay. We’re going to protect her. No one is going to hurt her again. We’ve got her.”

 

**Saturday, October 3rd, 4:06 AM**

Five girls sat cross legged on Tobin’s bed as she told them about her conversation with Hope in as much detail as possible. By the time she had finished, Tobin had a silent stream of tears down her cheeks, and the corner of her duvet balled up in her fists. 

  
Ashlyn let go of Ali to hug her best friend tightly, and eventually the five of them ended up in a cuddle pile on the bed, each girl holding on as tightly as possible to the others. 

 

“What are we going to do?”

 

“Talk to her.”

 

“No, she’ll think we’re ganging up on her and that won’t end well.”

 

“Someone needs to tell Hope.”

 

“That would just make it worse.”

 

“We can’t do nothing.”

 

The back-and-forth conversation lasted until dawn, and one by one four of them slowly fell asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms. 

 

Tobin, the only one left awake, extracted herself gently, and walked barefoot out onto her front porch. The morning light shined against the tears brimming in her eyes, as Tobin hugged herself tightly. She looked up at the sky, a silent prayer running through her mind.  _ Please don’t let history repeat itself. Please let her be okay. Please. I’d give anything. Please. _

 

**Monday, October 4th, 10:08 AM**

 

“Kelley. Stop shaking.”

  
“I’m nervous.”

 

“Kell. Stop.”

 

“I can’t.”

 

Exams were not something Kelley enjoyed, as Hope was quickly learning. The younger girl had been shaking her legs to relieve stress from the moment she had sat down in her seat, and it was driving Hope insane. 

 

By the time the midterm exam packets were distributed and they could start writing, Hope was ready to reach over herself and prevent Kelley from moving her legs any more. Luckily, as soon as Kelley hit pencil to paper, all of her focus went into the exam and her legs stilled almost instantly. 

 

**Monday, October 4th, 11:59 AM**

 

“What did you think of that?”

 

Hope looked at Kelley as they walked out of the building and into the cool October sunshine. “The exam? It was fine.”

 

“Yeah. I think I did okay mostly. I hope I didn’t fail. But I’m worried about my answer for that last question. I like essay exams better than short answer question exams. I’m worried I got most of them wrong. I’m not good with short question exams. He said the final is an essay though so at least there’s that. I just, I’m not sure how I did. It’s hard to judge. I’m really worried though, because it was such a long exam and it took me so long to finish all of it. I really hope I didn’t fail. If I failed I’ll have to-”

 

“KELLEY.”

 

Kelley stopped, almost falling over as she came to an abrupt stop. “Whaaa?”

 

“You did great. I promise. Now can we please talk about something that isn’t the midterm?” Hope put an arm around Kelley’s shoulder, hugging her tightly to let the younger girl know she wasn’t angry with her. 

 

“I’m sorry, I-”

 

“You don’t need to be sorry, you didn’t do anything wrong babe. But I don’t want to watch you torture yourself about an exam all the way home.” Hope smiled, squeezing Kelley a little tighter, and stroking her shoulder gently. 

 

Kelley beamed at Hope’s slightly-aggressive form of caring for her, ignoring the nervous feeling in her gut and trying not to focus too hard on Hope’s arm around her. 

 

**Wednesday, October 6th, 11:01 AM**

 

Hope sighed as Kelley started shaking her legs again. She tried focusing on the professor instead, but he was droning on and on about the symbolism of a tree and Hope could not care less about that. 

 

When the shaking intensified, Hope sucked a sharp breath in and snapped, “Stop stressing.”

 

“I’m trying!” Kelley whispered back, as forcefully as she could without raising her voice. 

 

**Wednesday, October 6th, 11:31 AM**

 

“Why are you even worried? It’s a midterm, it’s not a big deal.” Hope shook her head in disbelief that someone could care so much about a required class that wasn’t even remotely interesting to her. 

 

Kelley sighed, shrugging her shoulders casually. “I care about my grades.” Intelligence was important to her, and while she knew that grades are not the ultimate be-all end-all of intelligence, she had always worked hard to get the best grades she could. It was something she prided herself on. It was also something that lead to a lot of stress. Stress that usually manifested itself in her complete inability to sit still. 

 

Hope narrowed her eyes at the response and reached a hand out to stop Kelley’s ever-shaking legs. “You’re ridiculous.”

  
"It doesn't matter, does it? It never matters. Unless you're the one stressing. That's when it matters." Kelley felt tears prick in her eyes as she muttered the thoughts she’d been holding back all class.    
  
Hope sighed through her nose, this was not a conversation she wanted to have. "Because I stress about serious things Kelley. Not about school."   
  
Kelley dropped her head onto her arms, crossed on the desk in front of her, as Hope turned her back on Kelley. The younger girl loved Hope, that much was clear to everyone around them, but right now Kelley only felt frustration. 

 

_ It’s serious to me _ . 

 

**Wednesday, October 6th, 12:03 PM**

 

Kelley was still in a mood when class ended, and rushed out of class before Hope could even gather her things and stand up. 

 

Luckily for Hope, her much longer legs allowed her to catch up to Kelley. Or rather, what was starting to resemble a tiny ball of nerves. 

 

As soon as Hope was within arm’s reach behind her, she called out Kelley’s name. Kelley reacted by jumping a foot in the air and spinning around, a look of pure terror on her face. 

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“You... I thought...” Kelley sighed, frustrated with herself. “Nothing, nevermind.” With a second deep sigh, Kelley turned around and continued walking home. 

 

Hope caught up to the shorter girl with a few long strides, “What did I do?” 

 

Kelley shrugged, trying to quicken her pace. 

 

“Kells. You may be speedy but you are half a foot shorter than me, you’re not going to outwalk me.”

 

Slowing down, Kelley sighed once more. “It’s nothing.”

 

“Well something is making you upset, and I don’t like seeing you upset. What’s up?” Hope spoke softly, aware she had crossed some sort of line with Kelley, but clueless as to what that line could be. 

 

Kelley looked up at Hope, and seeing sincerity in the older girl’s eyes, she shared, “You scared me, that’s all.”  _ Well that’s not really  _ all _ , but that’s all you need to know.  _

 

“Was I too loud?” Hope’s question was only barely above a whisper, afraid she would scare Kelley again. 

 

Kelley scrunched up her face.  _ Kind of. But that requires explaining.  _ “I was just lost in my own thoughts.”

 

Hope smiled, glad to not have hurt Kelley. “What were you thinking of?” 

 

“The midterm.” Kelley swallowed her words, worried of what Hope’s reaction to them would be. 

 

Rolling her eyes, Hope bit back the sassy response that came naturally to her, and tried to be sensitive. “Okay, we’re going to make a deal. We’re not going to talk about this midterm any more. Until we get our grades back, you aren’t allowed to worry about it. Or think about it. Because I can’t stand to watch you torture yourself over this. Deal?” Hope turned her head to face Kelley, and was met with a shy grin. “I care about you Kelley.”

 

“Awwe Hopey. So what shall we talk about instead?”

 

“Why don’t we talk about how I’m going to take you on a date this weekend?”

 

“Wait, you are?” Kelley’s face lit up, brighter than it already was. The smile on her face was enough to send butterflies fluttering around Hope’s stomach. 

 

Hope winked down at the shorter girl, “Yes I am. But only if you find a different nickname for me before then.”

  
\---

 

**Thursday, October, 7th 12:10 PM**

 

**To: Ali** | Hey Ali are you doing anything after practice today?

 

**From: Ali** | I was planning on going to the mall to pick up a few things, do you want to come with? Ash is ditching me to go skateboard with Tobin again. 

 

**To: Ali** | Hahaha I knew I could count on you Princess. Yes please!!

 

**From: Ali** | Yaaas. See you at practice, bring your shopping brain!

 

\---

 

**Thursday, October, 7th 7:08 PM**

 

Ali clicked her car keys once, locking the car behind her, and put her arm around Kelley’s shoulder, pulling the younger girl into her. “So. What are we looking for?”

 

Kelley’s throat felt dry as nerves appeared suddenly. Buying herself some time to calm down, she turned the question back to her shopping-loving friend, “Mm, what are you here for? You said you had a few things to get?”

 

It proved to be the right question, as Ali’s eyes lit up. “Ahh yes. I need to get Ash’s birthday present, so it’s probably a good thing she was busy. And I need a new *ahem* outfit for her birthday night. What about you, KO?”

 

_ Darn.  _ Kelley looked as far into the distance as she could. “Oh, I need a new outfit too.”

 

“For Ashlyn’s birthday? Do you want to join us? I mean Ash did mention a threesome that one time...” Ali joked lightly, amusement making her eye’s shine. 

 

Caught by surprise, Kelley spoke without thinking, “What? No, ew. I mean I love you both but ew. Why would I do that? No, I need a new dress for my date with Hope. Why would you even ask that? What is wrong with you? Did Ashlyn really say that?”

 

Ali bit her lip nervously. Kelley may have been speaking a mile a minute, and the sentence may have been sandwiched between the rest of her questions, but Ali had caught it. “Relax Kell, I’m just teasing you.”

 

Kelley nodded, her facial expression changing from confusion to understanding, “Right... I knew that.”

 

“Sure you did.” Ali laughed at the younger girl. Staring straight ahead, Ali kept her tone light as she asked, “So about this date...?”

 

Kelley stopped abruptly. “How did you know?”

 

Ali turned to face Kelley, quickly regaining her balance after her arm had been knocked off the younger girl’s shoulders. “You just told me?”

 

“Wha-” Kelley’s mouth dropped open, forming an almost comical O shape, as realization hit her. “Fuck.”

 

Ali nodded gently, “I take it you’ve been keeping it a secret?” Ali watched as Kelley’s gaze fell to her feet, enough confirmation to allow Ali to continue, “Why, Kell?”

 

“I just...” Kelley shrugged, still mentally beating herself up for spilling her secret. “You all worry about me so much. Especially Tobin.” 

 

“Tobin doesn’t know?” Ali’s voice was laced with a mix of concern and frustration, her mind already preparing the ‘we are your friends and we care about you’ speech again. 

 

Kelley shook her head, still unable to meet Ali’s eyes. “She said she’d tell me if Hope passed the stupid Tobin Test or not, but she hasn’t said anything yet and when I ask she tells me she’s still thinking. I know after my last relationship you all worry, but Hope... Hope is special. Yeah, she gets frustrated with me, but when she isn’t frustrated she’s so nice to me. She really cares.” 

 

Ali stood still, the speech she’d been rehearsing was no longer in her mind.  _ I’ve heard those words before. I’ve heard those exact words from her before.  _

 

When Kelley finally raised her head, Ali’s heart all but broke. With one look at the tear-filled hazel eyes in front of her, begging to be understood, Ali put her arm against Kelley once more and started pulling her towards the mall’s entrance. “Come on, let’s go find you the most beautiful dress. You can be the princess for today. I’ll be your lady-in-waiting or whatever it is.”

 

The small giggle she earned in response made Ali smile, but it wasn’t a smile that lasted long. 

 

**Thursday, October, 7th 7:43 PM**

 

Ali shoved dress after dress after dress at the younger girl, keeping her occupied enough until the smile had finally graced Kelley’s face again. The tears she had shed in the parking lot were long gone, and Kelley was having fun trying on each dress given to her, although none of the dresses Ali had found were satisfactory enough for her. 

 

As Kelley closed the door to her dressing room for the umpteenth time, with another armful of dresses to try on, Ali pulled out her phone. 

 

**To: Ash |** Babe, I know we said we were going to have a quiet night, would you hate me if I invited the rest of the girls over to talk about something first? It’s about Kelley. It’s important. 

 

**From: Ash |** I could never hate you. What’s going on? I’ll clean up the living room. Should I order food for us? Pizza?

 

**To: Ash |** Thanks love, you’re the bestest. :* I’ll explain everything to everyone once I’m back. Yes please, good idea. 

 

Ali exited her chat with Ashlyn, and scrolled along her iMessage app, trying to find a specific chat, only to be interrupted by Kelley waltzing out of the dressing room. “I FOUND IT. This one. It’s perfect.”

 

Ali hid her phone in her sleeve and looked up. It was indeed a perfect dress for Kelley. The dress was floaty and floor length, a pale lavender with large black and orange flowers printed all over, and a deep plunging neckline. Ali nodded in awe. “That’s the one.”

 

With a giant grin on her face, Kelley twirled once before asking, “Now can we go to the food court? I want a donut.”

 

Shaking her head in amazement, Ali burst into laughter.  _ Well, that’s Kelley for you. Dresses and donuts.  _ “Sure we can Kell, but get changed first or that dress will be ruined before we even get home.”

 

Kelley’s smile grew wider as she retreated back to the dressing room to change one last time. 

 

The moment the door closed, Ali pulled her phone out again, found the group chat that hadn’t been used in over five months and sent her message quickly. 

 

**Group Chat** **|** Kelley’s Protectors 

 

**From: Ali |** We have a problem. 

 

**From: Alex |** What happened?

 

**From: HAO |** What’s wrong?

 

**From: Ali |** Not over text. Meet at my place in an hour. 

 

**From: HAO |** I’ll be there.

 

**From: Alex |** Me too. 

 

“Everything okay?” Kelley reappeared, once again dressed in leggings and a tshirt. 

 

Ali’s eyes snapped up. “Yeah, yeah all good. Why don’t you go pay for that beautiful dress so we can get out of here?”

 

Kelley nodded, a strange look on her face, one eyebrow raised up. “You’re sure everything’s okay?”

 

“Yeah, why?” Ali bit her lip, worried that she’d been caught. 

 

“I thought you wanted to get Ashlyn a present? And your outfit?” Kelley wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, making Ali crack up with laughter again. 

 

“I did say that. But it’s getting late and the stores are about to close, I’ll come back tomorrow. You know I love me any excuse to shop.” Ali smiled slightly, it wasn’t a complete lie after all. 

 

Kelley was satisfied with the answer and skipped away to the counter to pay for her dress. 

 

Ali returned to the group chat, sighing as she scrolled through the recent messages.

 

**From: Ash** **|**  I’ve already ordered pizza already with everyone’s favorite toppings. 

 

**From: HAO |** Hey Ashlyn, have I ever told you I love you?

 

**From: Ash |** Maybe once. 

 

**From: HAO |** Well I love you. I’ll bring the cookies I baked earlier too. 

 

**From: Alex |** Oooooh pizza and cookies. What should I bring?

 

**From: Ali |** Guys. Focus. We have a problem. 

 

**From: Ali |** Tobin needs to be there too.

 

**From: Alex |** Then I’ll bring Tobin. Her phone’s out of battery but she’s been reading over my shoulder, she says hi. 

 

“Okay I’m ready to go!” Kelley bounced up and down as she reached Ali again. 

 

Ali slipped her phone back into her pocket as she stood up. “Alright then, you excited little squirrel, let’s go get you a donut and take you home.”

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took an obscenely long amount of time! Life got a little hectic and I had to deal with some issues that came up, and then I got swamped with exams. I have more time to write now so I'll be back to posting a little more regularly. Again, I'm so sorry. 
> 
> Questions - 
> 
> 1\. favorite line/quote?  
> 2\. what do you think of Hope so far?  
> 3\. any predictions for the date [aka the next chapter]?


	9. The Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kelley's tired of her friends being overprotective, and Hope takes her on a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think (:

**Friday, October 8th, 7:13 PM**

 

“TOBIIIIIIN I’M HE-re.” Kelley’s voice trailed off as she realized that not only Tobin, but the rest of her best friends too, were sitting in Tobin and Alex’s living room, looking at her expectantly. Kelley raised a wrist and glanced at it, aware that she didn’t have a watch on since she never wore one, but going through the charade anyway. “I’m not late!”

 

“You’re not, Kell, don’t worry.” Tobin set her drink on the table and shuffled into a more upright position. “We wanted to talk to you before we started the movie. We know you’re going on a date tomorrow.”

 

Alex glared at Tobin for her blunt statement despite having been instructed to be subtle and Kelley glared at Ali as she heard Tobin’s words. 

 

“Kell, I’m sorry, I had to.”

 

Tobin, smiling sheepishly under Alex’s intense glare, tried to pacify the situation, “We just want to make sure you’re safe.”

 

A sense of familiar dread filled Kelley. This had happened before, way back in freshman year when she was going on dates with a completely different person. And Kelley had hated it then, too. “No.”

 

“No?” Heather leaned forwards, her eyes filling with concern. “No, you’re not safe?”

 

“No as in no we are not doing this. Not again.” Kelley dropped the snacks she had brought over onto the floor, not caring how they landed. She clenched her hands tightly, feeling all the frustration that had been building up inside of her. “You don’t get to tell me who I can and can’t date.”

 

“Kelley we’re not-”

 

Unclenching a fist, Kelley jabbed a finger in the air towards Ashlyn then Heather then Tobin, “Just because you and you and YOU found the loves of your life, doesn’t mean you get to pick mine for me. My dating life is not up for discussion. I am not a broken little doll that needs to be taken care of. Don’t think that I don’t notice all your little talks and looks between each other. I don’t need you acting like my body guard Tobin. I’m Kelley Fucking O’Hara and I take care of myself.”

 

The door slammed behind her, her footsteps echoing loudly as she sprinted away from the small house, leaving her best friends behind her. 

 

“Well that went well...”

 

“Not.”

 

**Friday, October 8th, 8:23 PM**

 

**From: Tobin |** Kelley... I’m sorry... I love you

 

**From: Ashlyn |** You’re not broken, you’re strong. Too strong, sometimes. So strong that you deal with everything alone and we don’t notice that something is wrong until it’s almost too late, like last time. But what if there hadn’t been that ‘almost’? Kelley I love you so much and I don’t want anything to happen to you. I don’t think you need protecting. I’m trying to be a good friend. A better friend than I was in freshman year. We’re all trying. Please don’t shut me out. Please don’t shut us out.

 

 **From: Alex |** I know you don’t want Tobin. Do you need a friend right now though?

 

**From: Ali |** I’m sorry for making you feel like we ganged up on you. I know you wanted to keep it a secret, and you’re probably mad at me for spilling it. That’s fair. Kelley, you’re like my little sister. I’ll always look out for you. I trust you though and if you want to go on the date then go on the date. Let me know if you want me to do your make-p once you’re not angry at me any more. 

 

**From: Heather |** Kelley come back. We won’t talk about it anymore if you don’t want to. Or tell me that you got home safe. 

 

**Friday, October 8th, 9:50 PM**

 

**From: Tobin |** Please come back

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 9:09 AM**

 

**From: Tobin |** Hey practice is cancelled, do you want to go kick a ball around the field

  
**Saturday, October 9th, 9:21 AM**

 

**From: Tobin |** Kells c’mon, I’m never up this early unless there’s practice I don’t want to waste it

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 9:29 AM**

 

**From: Tobin |** I know you’re awake HAO told me

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 9:43 AM**

 

**From: Tobin |** Okay ): I’m going to the field anyway so come later over if you want

**From: Tobin |** Or text me if you want lunch or something   
**From: Tobin |** I’ll even go get donuts with you if you want

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 9:59 AM**

 

**From: Alex |** Do you want lunch with me and Tobs?

**From: Alex |** Or just me?

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 10:01 AM**

 

**From: Ashlyn |** Please stop shutting us out Kelley, we love you. We need you. Everyone needs people.

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 11:33 AM**

 

**From: Tobin |** Kells please stop being mad at me

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 11:52AM**

 

**From: Alex |** I’m going to deny I ever said this but I need your help with my calculus homework.

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 12:12 PM**

 

**From: Ash |** Kelley, do you want to come to the animal shelter with me?

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 12:54 PM**

 

**From: Ali |** Can I help you get ready for tonight? I’ll do your hair and make-up, and I’ll tell you you’re beautiful until you believe it without a doubt. Because you are. 

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 1:44 PM**

 

**From: Tobin |** Please

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 3:01 PM**

 

**From: Alex |** Can we go do nails?

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 3:50PM**

 

**From: Tobin |** C’mon Kells

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 4:04 PM**

 

**From: Ali |** Please let me do your make-up!

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 5:38 PM**

 

“Kelley I’m going to get groceries soon. Do you want to come with me and do you need anything?”

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 5:49 PM**

 

“Kelley! I’m leaving soon. Need anything?”

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 5:58**

 

“Okay I’m going. Text me if you want me to pick something up.”

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 6:14PM**

 

**From: Tobin:** Pleaseeee I’ll let you nutmeg me

 

Kelley sighed as yet another text lit up her phone. She reached over with her free hand and tapped the screen to silence it as she finished putting her mascara on with the other hand. 

 

She had ignored all of the texts and phone calls all day. Kelley had hid in her room, stepping out only to get food from the kitchen when she knew Heather was asleep or in the shower. She had ignored the many times HAO would stop by her door, listening, making sure Kelley was still alive, and then reporting back to the others.  _ I can take care of myself. _

 

Nothing was going to ruin today for her. She had been looking forward to this date ever since Hope had asked her on it.  _ Nothing can ruin tonight.  _

 

**Saturday, October 9th: 6:29 PM**

 

**From: Tobin |** I’ll let you call me Toby for a whole year

 

Kelley rolled her eyes as she switched her phone onto Do Not Disturb mode. 

 

_ Nothing can ruin tonight.  _

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 6:30 PM**

 

The knock came right at 6:30, and Kelley rushed from her bedroom through the apartment, avoiding her roommate. Hope’s jaw dropped open as Kelley opened her apartment door and walked into the hallway to greet her. 

 

Kelley had gathered her hair up into a rose-shaped bun, and had let one soft curl frame each side of her face. Her make-up was done in the the perfect natural beauty way that Ali and Alex had taught her. The dress that she had picked out with Ali suited her perfectly, and had been paired with black sandals and a black clutch. 

 

Hope, dressed in black fitted pants paired with a loose white blouse and black heeled boots, had never seen anyone as beautiful as Kelley that night. She held an elbow out for Kelley to hold onto as they walked to her car. “Ready to go, miss?”

 

“Yes.”  _ Nothing can ruin this night.  _

 

**Saturday, October 9th, 10:38 PM**

 

“Thank you for dinner! It was awesome.” Kelley said as she stepped out of the car and took in their new surroundings. Hope had insisted on showing her a secret place before driving them both home. Though it made Kelley nervous, she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to spend more time with Hope. She fell into step with the older girl as they moved away from the car. 

 

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s one of my favorite restaurants and I thought it would be a great place to take you.”

 

“One of your favorite restaurants? Didn’t you just move here a few months ago?” Kelley felt her heart start to beat faster in her chest. 

 

“Yes and no.”

 

_ Thud. Thud. Thudthudthudthud.  _ Kelley’s voice was high, higher than Hope’s own voice, betraying her nerves slightly as she asked, “Wh-what does that mean?”

 

Hope looked over at Kelley, noticing the younger girl’s trembling hands and shaky breaths, wondering what had gotten her so worked up. “I grew up around here. I know this place like the back of my hand. But I always wanted out. When I turned 18, I would leave. That’s what I kept telling myself. I needed to get away from home. Wambach recruited me, so I took that offer and ran with it. And now I’m back. Turns out it wasn’t home that I wanted to leave, after all. Just the people that used to be here.”

 

Kelley turned to stare at Hope as her heart beat settled back down to it’s normal rate. “Oh.” She shuffled closer to Hope as they walked in silence for a few steps, with Kelley deep in thought. Hope hadn’t opened up like that to her before, and Kelley didn’t want to ruin the moment. “People can be awful sometimes.”

 

“They can.” Hope ran a hand through her hair before letting it fall back down to her side. A slow smile appeared on Hope’s face as she nudged Kelley’s shoulder. “But they can be awesome too.”

 

Kelley smiled as her skin tingled at the contact from Hope. When she heard a twig crack as she stepped on it, Kelley was reminded of not having any earthly idea where they were. “So, when are you going to tell me where we’re going? It was a pretty long drive and had too many turns for me to keep track of.”

 

“Well, I didn’t think taking you to one of my favorite restaurants was enough. I wanted to take you to one of my favorite places in the world.”

 

Kelley twirled around quickly once, her dress flowing around her. “Hope, we’re in the middle a forest.”

 

“Yes.” Hope smiled widely, keeping her secret to herself a while longer. “We’re not there yet. So I vote that we enjoy the rest of journey there.”

 

“Okay, but I’d better not get any mosquito bites.”

 

Hope simply laughed as she began to walk down an almost hidden path. Kelley, not wanting to be left alone under the setting sun, quickened her pace until she fell into step with the other woman. She turned, about to ask a question, but was momentarily left speechless. The sun, hanging low in the sky, was hitting Hope’s face, illuminating her skin and adding a sparkle to her already beautiful eyes. Her staring though did not go unnoticed. Hope turned her head slightly, facing the girl walking next to her.

 

“Are you ok? You’re staring at my face. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just want to make sure you’re all good.”

 

“I-I..umm… yeah sorry, I’m fine. The sun was just - and your eyes - and I.” Kelley cleared her throat, ashamed of her stammering. “What I’m trying to say is that I may have gotten a tiny bit distracted,” Kelley spoke nervously as her gaze fell anywhere but in line with Hope’s.

 

“Oh, well, in that case, you should know you’re pretty distracting as well,” Hope said with a smirk, before reaching between them and grabbing Kelley’s hand with her own.

 

Almost out of instinct, Kelley pulled her hand away. She wasn’t sure why, but it happened. Well, that isn’t true. She knew why, but Hope sure as hell did not. Nervousness built up inside Kelley, her mind racing trying to figure out what to do and say. Before she had the chance to say anything, Hope spoke up.

 

“Don’t worry. If you’re not into holding hands we don’t have to.”

 

Hope did not sound like she wanted an explanation, nor did she sound angry with the way Kelley reacted. A smile replaced the younger girl’s worried expression and most of the gnawing nervousness went away.

 

“Thank you. I-”

 

“Hold that thought,” Hope said as she slowed her pace. “Sorry, it’s just that we’re here and I want you to take in everything at once. I know I can talk a lot and there’s no way I’m letting my voice get in the way of this place.”

 

“No worries,” Kelley replied with a smile, truly thankful that she did not have to explain her nerves to Hope.

 

“Ok, I haven’t ever brought anyone here before. I think if you close your eyes starting now, I’ll be able lead to the perfect spot. It’s only a few yards away.”

 

“Okay, but if I fall Hope, you owe me a bag of Swedish fish.”

 

Hope burst out laughing and Kelley couldn’t think of anything she’d rather be listening to. 

 

“If you fall, I will buy you  _ two _ bags of Swedish fish and your favorite ice cream. Deal?”

 

“Deal.”

 

Kelley reluctantly closed her eyes, the nervousness from earlier creeping its way back into her mind. Within seconds, Hope’s left hand was holding on gently to her elbow, while her right hand was placed gently on the middle of her back. Kelley knew that physical contact was not her thing, but she also knew that it was very much Hope’s thing. And Hope’s rare childlike excitement about the mystery spot made it somewhat easier to push her fears to the back of her mind.

 

“Okay,” Hope began as they continued to walk, “Just a few more feet and we’ll be there.”

 

Kelley’s feet seemed to be working on autopilot, allowing Hope to take the lead.

 

“Alright, open your eyes.”

 

The younger girl slowly lifted her lids, adjusting her sensitive eyes to the bright sun that still hung in the sky. Once she was able to see clearly, her jaw, which had been clenched shut during the walk, dropped open in awe. Hope’s favorite spot was nothing short of spectacular. Directly in front of her was the most beautiful lake she had ever seen. The water danced in the wind, sparkling like diamonds in the setting sun. The trees of the forest spread out around it, encasing the lake but somehow making it seem free.

 

“Hope... this place is beautiful.”  _ Just like you _ , Kelley thought, though saying the words aloud scared her to no end.

 

“I’m glad you think so.”

 

Hope herself was looking around, taking in every inch of the land and water. She took a few more seconds, then turned to Kelley.

 

“Follow me. That dock down there,” Hope said as she pointed to a wooden dock about twenty-five feet away, “has the best view. And I think we got here just in time to watch the sun set.”

 

Kelley couldn’t help but smile as she listened to Hope speak about this place. It clearly meant a great deal to the taller girl, and it warmed Kelley’s heart that Hope wanted to bring  _ her _ to it out of all people. She followed close behind Hope, getting distracted every few feet by her surroundings. They finally reached the end of the dock and Hope slipped off her shoes. She quickly sat down and dropped her feet into the water before looking up at Kelley.

 

“Take your shoes off and sit down with me. I promise that once you feel how amazing the water is, you’ll thank me.”

 

Kelley giggled as she removed her sandals and sat down next to her date. The other woman was right, the cool water felt incredible as it covered her feet and ankles.

 

“So how did you find this place?” Kelley asked, curiosity getting the best of her.

 

“I was kind of frustrated one day. I had a lot on my mind and I decided to go for a drive and one of the roads led me to where we parked today. I hadn’t planned on finding a path. All I needed was to get away, but I found one anyway. And I ended up here. Ever since that day, I kept coming here to just get away from it all. It’s my happy place. I missed it while I was away. It’s the first time I’ve been back since I moved back here.”

 

A tinge of pink appeared on Hope’s cheeks, telling Kelley that the woman wasn’t used to talking about this spot.

 

“I can see why it’s your happy place. I don’t think anyone would be able to be mad or upset in a place like this.”

 

“It somehow has a way of putting life into perspective. That sounds weird, and doesn’t make much sense. But whenever I come here, I can think freely, and clearly. It’s my form of escapism I suppose.”

 

“It’s the best type of escape.” Kelley stated quietly as her eyes fell on Hope once again.

 

Yet this time, the older girl’s eyes were already on Kelley. It was different than before, however. The air between them seemed to thicken right before her eyes, altering the atmosphere and allowing the tension between them to appear. 

 

Hope shifted her body closer, never breaking their eye contact, until she was just inches away. Her eyes flickered down to Kelley’s lips, noticing just how soft and pink they really were. When Hope returned her gaze to her eyes, Kelley noticed something in them she hadn’t seen before. Hope’s stare was intense, and nothing like Kelley had seen before.

 

Their breathing was quiet and slow, neither woman daring to move. Just as Kelley was about to speak, Hope leaned forward and connected their lips. One hand moved to her waist, while the other found its way into Kelley’s hair, both being used to pull her closer. 

 

Kelley could feel Hope’s desire, the passion that she was putting into the kiss. And she got lost in it. She kissed her back, pulling the brunette closer to her. But her brief moment of bliss was cut short as the intensity of the kiss truly hit her. 

 

Hope’s tongue lightly grazed the spot where Kelley’s lips met, a wordless question. 

 

Kelley wished she could react the way she knew Hope wanted her to, but she couldn’t. She pulled away abruptly and stood up. 

 

Hope sat below her, panting, and attempting to comprehend what had just happened while also trying to steady her breathing. 

 

Before she could utter a word, Kelley’s legs were taking her away. She didn’t know where, she just knew that she was running. She’d left her sandals on the dock. She could feel rocks and twigs scraping the soles of her feet. She had no idea how to get home. She had goosebumps from the cold air brushing against her. But she didn’t care. 

 

Kelley needed to get away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> favorite line[s]? favorite moment[s]? 
> 
> what did you think of Kelley yelling at them? are you more on Tobin & co's side or Kelley's side? 
> 
> where do you think Kelley's run will take her?


End file.
